ИСТИНА

Terahertz (THz) radiation with the photon energy of 1–10 meV is an efficient tool for non-invasive diagnostics in biology, material science, etc. However, the THz wavelength of about 100 microns provides the resolution in the scale of a millimeter. This constitutes a major obstacle for the application of THz visualization technology. This project aims at developing a new approach in THz diagnostics with sub-wavelength super-resolution. Plasma channels of femtosecond filaments will be a source of THz emission with the spectral bandwidth of the order of tens of terahertz. This provides high temporal resolution. We will explore experimentally and numerically the optimal configurations of filament plasma channels for the best directionality and localization of the THz beam. This THz beam will be squeezed into the diameter of about 1 micron or less by the developed in this joint China-Russia project nanostructured focusing element. The experience of Russian teams from Lomonosov Moscow State University and Lebedev Physical Institute in regularization of multiple filamentation will be generalized to the control of the directed THz beam. The obtained optimum THz control setup design will be transferred to the team of Nankai University, where the optimized THz radiation will be focused into the sub-wavelength beam. So, we will obtain the spatio-temporal super-resolution in the THz part of electromagnetic radiation spectrum.