Patent ID: 7995628

Claim:
A terahertz parametric beam source, having high conversion efficiency and a high output power beam produced at terahertz frequencies, the terahertz parametric beam source comprising: a pulsed laser stage, which includes a first crystal used as a lasing medium generating a first pump beam; a beam shaping optics stage cooperatively coupled to the pulsed laser stage for shaping the first pump beam; a nonlinear optical crystal stage having a second crystal, wherein the second crystal is a nonlinear optical crystal having an optical axis, cooperatively coupled to the pulsed laser stage by the beam shaping optics stage, wherein the nonlinear optical crystal stage includes at least four recycling mirrors in a configuration which produces a second pump beam by recycling the first pump beam, and causing the second pump beam to overlap the first pump beam, causing amplification of the output power beam produced at terahertz frequencies, wherein the nonlinear optical crystal produces an idler beam and generates the output power beam produced at terahertz frequencies, and wherein the terahertz parametric beam source is tunable and portable.