• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-43
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• 2020

The feasibility of the application of terahertz electromagnetic waves in the diagnosis of prostate cancer was examined. Four samples of incomplete cancerous prostatic paraffin-embedded tissues were examined using terahertz spectral imaging (TPI) system and the results obtained by comparing the absorption coefficient and refractive index of prostate tumor, normal prostate tissue and smooth muscle from one of the paraffin tissue masses examined were reported. Three hundred and sixty cases of absorption coefficients from one of the paraffin tissues examined were used as raw data to classify these three tissues using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM). An excellent classification with an accuracy of 92.22% in the prediction set was achieved. Using the distribution information of THz reflection signal intensity from sample surface and absorption coefficient of the sample, an attempt was made to use the TPI system to identify the boundaries of the different tissues involved (prostate tumors, normal and smooth muscles). The location of three identified regions in the terahertz images (frequency domain slice absorption coefficient imaging, 1.2 THz) were compared with those obtained from the histopathologic examination. The tissue tumor region had a distinctively visible color and could well be distinguished from other tissue regions in terahertz images. Results indicate that a THz spectroscopy imaging system can be efficiently used in conjunction with the proposed advanced computer-based mathematical analysis method to identify tumor regions in the paraffin tissue mass of prostate cancer.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.200-204
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• 2008

Coherent tunable terahertz generation was demonstrated in periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate crystal via difference frequency generation of femtosecond laser pulses. Simultaneous forward and backward terahertz radiations were obtained around 1.35 and 0.63 THz, respectively at low temperature. By cooling the crystal to reduce losses caused by phonon absorptions, the generated THz bandwidth was as narrow as 23GHz at the center frequency of 0.63 THz. The measurement result of temperature-dependent showed gradual intensity increase of the generated terahertz pulse and red shift of the center frequency as the temperature decrease from 291 to 143 K, but insignificant reduction of the spectral bandwidth. Furthermore, the stoichiometric crystal was very suitable for the suppression of THz loss at low temperature compared to the congruent $LiNbO_3$ crystal.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 2022

We propose a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a slotted porous core and elliptical-hole cladding, for high birefringence in the terahertz regime. Asymmetry in the guided mode is obtained mainly by using arrays of elliptical air holes in the TOPAS^® polymer cladding. We investigate the tradeoff between several structural parameters and find optimized values that can have a high birefringence while satisfying the single-mode condition. The optical properties in the terahertz regime are thoroughly analyzed in numerical simulations, using a full-vector finite-element method with the perfectly-matched-layer condition. In an optimal design, the proposed photonic crystal fiber shows a high birefringence of 8.80 × 10^-2 and an effective material loss of 0.07 cm^-1 at a frequency of 1 THz, satisfying the single-mode-guidance condition at the same time. The proposed PCF would be useful for various polarization-management applications in the terahertz range.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.463-470
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• 2023

Hydroxygraphene as a kind of functionalized graphene has important applications in composite, photoelectric and biological materials. In the present study, THz and microfluidic technologies were implemented to study the THz transmission characteristics of hydroxygraphene with different concentrations and residence times in magnetic and electric fields. The results show that the THz transmission intensity decreases with the increase in sample concentration and duration of an applied electric field, while it increases by staying longer in the magnetic field. The phenomenon is analyzed and explained in terms of hydrogen bond, conductivity and scattering characteristics. The results establish a foundation for future research on the THz absorption characteristics of liquid graphene based on microfluidic technology in different external environments. It also provides technical support for the application and development of graphene in THz devices.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.461-465
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• 2020

A dual-mode laser terahertz source consisting of two in-line distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser diodes (LD) is proposed. It is less susceptible to residual reflections from facets than an in-line dual-mode distributed feedback (DFB) LD. The characteristics of the proposed terahertz source are theoretically investigated using a split-step time-domain simulation. It is shown that terahertz waves of frequencies from 385 GHz to 1725 GHz can be generated by appropriate thermal tuning of two DBR LDs. The dual-mode DBR LD terahertz source exhibits good spectral quality for residual facet reflectivity below 0.02, but facet reflectivity of the in-line dual-mode DFB LD terahertz source should be below 0.002 to provide similar spectral quality.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.86-96
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• 2024

This research investigation employs a terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy system to study the terahertz spectral characteristics of five different citrates in both solution and solid state. The citrates under examination are lithium citrate, monosodium citrate, disodium citrate, trisodium citrate, and potassium citrate. The results show that the THz absorption coefficients of the first four citrate solutions exhibit a decreasing trend with increasing concentration. However, the potassium citrate solution shows an opposite phenomenon. At the same time, the absorption coefficients of lithium citrate, trisodium citrate, and potassium citrate solutions are compared at the same concentration. The results indicate that the absorption coefficient of citrate solution increases in proportion to the increase of metal cation radius, which is explained from the perspective of the influence of metal cations on hydrogen bonds. In addition, we also study the absorption peaks of solid citrates, and characterize the formation mechanism of the absorption peaks by molecular dynamics simulations. This methodology can be further extended to the study of multitudinous salts, presenting theoretical foundations for the detection in food and medicine industries.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.1030-1031
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.02a
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• pp.189-190
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• 2007

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.1 no.5
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• pp.544-550
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• 2017

This simulation based study reports a novel tunable, compact, room temperature terahertz (THz) transistor source, operated on the concept of charge plasma oscillation with the capability of radiating within a terahertz gap. A vertical cavity with a quasi-periodic distributed-Bragg-reflector has been attached to a THz plasma wave transistor to achieve a monochromatic coherent surface emission for single as well as multi-color operation. The resonance frequency has been tuned from 0.5 to 1.5 THz with the variable quality factor of the optical cavity from 5 to 290 and slope efficiency maximized to 11. The proposed surface emitting terahertz transistor is able to satisfy the demand for compact solid state terahertz sources in the field of teratronics. The proposed device can be integrated with Si CMOS technology and has opened the way towards the development of silicon photonics.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.590-597
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• 2022

We carry out numerical simulations of the responses of planar metamaterials composed of metamolecules under obliquely incident terahertz waves. A Fano-like-resonant planar metamaterial, with two types of resonance modes originating from the two meta-atoms constituting the meta-molecules, exhibits high performance in terms of resonance strength, as well as the outstanding ability to manipulate the resonance frequency by varying the incident angle of the terahertz waves. In the structure, the fundamental electric dipole resonance associated with Y-shaped meta-atoms is highly tunable, whereas the inductive-capacitive resonance of C-shaped meta-atoms is relatively omnidirectional. This is attributed to the electric near-field coupling between the two types of meta-atoms. Our work provides novel opportunities for realizing terahertz devices with versatile functions, and for improving the versatility of terahertz sensing and imaging systems.