Terahertz beam steering by optical coherent control

We demonstrate optical coherent control of the emission direction of THz radiation. Femtosecond laser pulses are used to excite different types of ultrafast photocurrents along different directions in a bulk GaAs sample. The overall emission pattern can be modified by changing the phase of the optical excitation. With this method, THz beam steering of about 8° is realized. A simple dipole-based model allows us to relate the size of the steering effect to the amplitude ratio between the different photocurrent contributions and to diffraction effects resulting from the excitation spot size.

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