Organic crystals with second-order optical nonlinearity feature very high and ultra-fast optical nonlinearities and are therefore attractive for various photonics applications. During the last decade, they have been found particularly attractive for terahertz (THz) photonics. This is mainly due to the very intense and ultra-broadband THz-wave generation possible with these crystals. We review recent progress and challenges in the development of organic crystalline materials for THz-wave generation and detection applications. We discuss their structure, intrinsic properties, and advantages compared to inorganic alternatives. The characteristic properties of the most widely employed organic crystals at present, such as DAST, DSTMS, OH1, HMQ-TMS, and BNA are analyzed and compared. We summarize the most important principles for THz-wave generation and detection, as well as organic THz-system configurations based on either difference-frequency generation or optical rectification. In addition, we give state-of-the-art examples of very intense and ultra-broadband THz systems that rely on organic crystals. Finally, we present some recent breakthrough demonstrations in nonlinear THz photonics enabled by very intense organic crystalline THz sources, as well as examples of THz spectroscopy and THz imaging using organic crystals as THz sources for various scientific and technological applications.

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and imaging is used to study the effects of various hiding techniques of spectral features of drug and explosive simulants in combination with different paper and textile barriers. Results show that rapid detection and identification of concealed simulants is possible in the frequency range from 1.5 to 4.0 THz by using an organic-crystal-based terahertz time-domain system and the spectral peak analysis method.

It is demonstrated that interactions between nanoparticles and topological defects induce a twist-grain boundary phase in a chiral liquid crystal. The occurrence of this phase, the analogue of the Shubnikov phase in type-II superconductors, is driven by direct interactions between surface-functionalized CdSe quantum dots and screw dislocations. It is shown that, within an adaptive-defect-core-targeting mechanism, nanoparticles of appropriate size and functionalization adapt to qualitatively different cores of topological defects such as disclination lines and screw dislocations. This mechanism enables the effective reduction of the energetically costly, singular defect core volume, while the surrounding phase ordering remains relatively weakly affected. The findings suggest new pathways towards the controlled assembly of superstructures in diverse, symmetry-broken, condensed-matter systems, ranging from nanoparticle-decorated liquid crystals to superconductors.

Postojna Cave is the largest of 21 show caves in Slovenia. The radon concentration there was measured continuously in the Great Mountain hall from July 2005 to October 2009 and ranged from about 200 Bq m⁻³ in winter to about 3 kBq m⁻³ in summer. The observed seasonal pattern of radon concentration is governed by air movement due to the difference in external and internal air densities, controlled mainly by air temperature. The cave behaves as a large chimney and in the cold period, the warmer cave air is released vertically through cracks and fissures to the colder outside atmosphere, enabling the inflow of fresh air with low radon levels. In summer the ventilation is minimal or reversed and the air flows from the higher to the lower openings of the cave. Our calculations have shown that the effect of the difference between outside and cave air temperatures on radon concentration is delayed for four days, presumably because of the distance of the measurement point from the lower entrance (ca. 2 km). A model developed for predicting radon concentration on the basis of outside air temperature has been checked and found to be successful.