Nonlinear THz Generation through Optical Rectification Enhanced by Phonon-Polaritons in Lithium Niobate Thin Films

We investigate nonlinear THz generation from lithium niobate films and crystals of different thicknesses by optical rectification of near-infrared femtosecond pulses. A comparison between numerical studies and polarization-resolved measurements of the generated THz signal reveals a 2 orders of magnitude enhancement in the nonlinear response compared to optical frequencies. We show that this enhancement is due to optical phonon modes at 4.5 and 7.45 THz and is most pronounced for films thinner than 2 μm where optical-to-THz conversion is not limited by self-absorption. These results shed new light on the employment of thin film lithium niobate platforms for the development of new integrated broadband THz emitters and detectors. This may also open the door for further control (e.g., polarization, directivity, and spectral selectivity) of the process in nanophotonic structures, such as nanowires and metasurfaces, realized in the thin film platform. We illustrate this potential by numerically investigating optical-to-THz conversion driven by localized surface phonon-polariton resonances in sub-wavelength lithium niobate rods.