The Terahertz Facility of the Institute of Terahertz Science and Technology (ITST), partnering with the MRL through the Materials Research Facilities Network (MRFN), offers a wide range of one-of-a-kind and state of the art instrumentations. The instrumental capabilities commonly rely on radiation frequencies at the heart of the electromagnetic spectrum in the terahertz (THz) and sub-terahertz range. While this range offers tremendous new opportunities for the study of synthetic and biological materials in solution and solid state, it represents an underutilized spectroscopic regime, given the sparsity of high performance THz sources available. The Terahertz facility uniquely closes the gap with the UCSB Free Electron Lasers (FELs) covering 0.1-4.8 THz at kW power, a frequency-domain vector network analyzer covering 0.07-0.7 THz at lower power, two time-domain spectrometers one of which is a video-rate time-domain vector spectrometer covering 0.3-3 THz, a pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer at 0.24 Tesla powered by a low power source, as well as the highest power source available for EPR to date, the UCSB FELs.
One of the best Fourier transform spectrometers in the world, known for high stability of the interferometer and state of the art scanning mechanism. Capable of operation both in continuous and step scanning regimes. This instrument is equipped with a complete set of optics and detectors for broad band operation throughout IR and THz ranges. Cryogenic detectors with record high sensitivity enable measurements of weak signals, including of samples at low temperatures mounted in the optical cryostat.
A source and detection of tunable, coherent, large dynamic range and wide IF bandwidths microwave radiation.
The UCSB Free Electron laser source offers high power terahertz radiation. The primary radiation source consists of two fully operational FELs, the MM-FEL and the FIR-FEL, covering the range of 2.5 mm to 63 µm (4 to 160 cm-1 or 120 GHz to 4.75 THz). These are connected to a users' laboratory by a vacuum optical transport system. Twelve switchable output ports allow multiple experimental setups. This facility is unique in providing tunable, coherent, kilowatt-level radiation for scientific research in the far-infrared portion of the spectrum.