Backward Wave, Oscillator Sources on Terhertz Studies

摘要

In this report we focused on a new instrument that we developed with the BWO technology purchased with this grant. The BWO technology in this spectral region has ordinarily been operated at the end of a rather long, complex, slow, narrow banded, and expensive phase-locked frequency multiplication chain. We have demonstrated a new approach, FAst Scan Submillimeter Spectroscopy Technique (FASSST) which makes use of the very good short term spectral purity of the BWO sources and uses a fast scan, optical calibration, and fast signal digitization and computation to replace the phase- lock system. The result is a system of equal sensitivity and resolution, but one that is much simpler, less expensive, and orders of magnitude faster. In addition to numerous scientific and technical applications, the technique holds considerable promise for analytical chemistry and has been featured in an 'A- pages' article in the American Chemical Society Journal Analytical Chemistry.