Generation of Tunable, Coherent Terahertz Radiation Through Molecular Modulation

We introduce and numerically model an approach for generating coherent terahertz radiation. Our method is based on our experimental work with high frequency (10-100 THz) continuous-wave light modulation. We use continuous-wave stimulated Raman scattering inside a high-finesse cavity to modulate light at molecular frequencies. Our simulations demonstrate how this approach could be expanded to generate radiation outside of the optical range. An infrared mixing beam from a semiconductor diode laser could be frequency down-shifted by the molecular modulator in order to generate radiation in the terahertz region of the spectrum. The generated radiation would be easily tunable, as a tuning range of a few tens of nanometers in the diode laser would allow for generation of radiation spanning the entire terahertz region (1-10 THz). We explore the efficiency of this generation using numerical simulations with experimentally available parameters.