The Applications of Terahertz Spectroscopy in Functional Optical Materials Researches

Terahertz radiation refers to the electromagnetic wave whose frequency is usually defined between 0.1 and 10 THz (1 THz=10(12) Hz). With the development of the emission and detection technologies of THz radiation, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) has been widely used in medical diagnosis, security inspection and materials characterization. In this paper, we introduced briefly the progress of terahertz measurement technologies, and then reviewed the applications of THz spectra in functional materials researches. As two important functional optical materials, TiO2 nanoparticles and yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystal have been investigated with THz-TDS. We introduced the electron injection process in TiO2 studied by time resolved THz spectroscopy which is reported in the literature, and then presented our own work, the THz optical constants of undoped and Tm3+ doped YAG crystals.