Generation of continuous-wave 1-11 THz radiation with intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces

Generation of continuous-wave 1-11 THz radiation with intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Generation of continuous-wave 1-11 THz radiation with intersubband polaritonic metasurfaces Mikhail Belkin, Jonas Krakofsky, Markus Rieder, Simon Stich, Iaroslav Lubianskii, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7231358/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Photonics → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Tunable sources of narrowband continuous-wave (CW) electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz (THz) spectral range, spanning from 0.1 to 15 THz, are notoriously difficult to produce. Despite significant research efforts to close the “THz gap”, there are still no tunable CW sources with reasonable (>0.1 μW) power output in the spectral range 6-11 THz. In this work, we demonstrate a CW THz source with up to 14 μW of power output in the 6-11 THz band and a total tuning range of 1-11 THz. Our source is based on difference-frequency generation (DFG) in a deeply subwavelength nonlinear metasurface with a second-order nonlinear response 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of the best nonlinear crystals used for THz generation. Due to its subwavelength thickness, the metasurface is mostly free from both phase-matching and absorption constraints. Tunable THz radiation is generated by pumping the metasurface with two milliwatt-level CW mid-infrared (mid-IR) lasers in a simple modular setup that superficially resembles that employed by photomixers. Our work opens the 6-11 THz spectral range for applications that require tunable narrowband CW radiation sources, including high-resolution spectroscopy and metrology, radio-astronomy, microscopy, and sensing. Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical materials and structures/Metamaterials Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical physics/Terahertz optics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationFINAL.docx Supplementary information for the manuscript Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Nature Photonics → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7231358","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":506705200,"identity":"fc0b6a0f-dc9a-4570-9f91-bb361861918e","order_by":0,"name":"Mikhail 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Despite significant research efforts to close the “THz gap”, there are still no tunable CW sources with reasonable (\u003e0.1 μW) power output in the spectral range 6-11 THz. In this work, we demonstrate a CW THz source with up to 14 μW of power output in the 6-11 THz band and a total tuning range of 1-11 THz. Our source is based on difference-frequency generation (DFG) in a deeply subwavelength nonlinear metasurface with a second-order nonlinear response 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of the best nonlinear crystals used for THz generation. Due to its subwavelength thickness, the metasurface is mostly free from both phase-matching and absorption constraints. Tunable THz radiation is generated by pumping the metasurface with two milliwatt-level CW mid-infrared (mid-IR) lasers in a simple modular setup that superficially resembles that employed by photomixers. 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