We report on the observation of broadband (40 THz) bright twin beams through high-gain parametric downconversion in an aperiodically poled lithium niobate crystal. The output photon number is shown to scale exponentially with the pump power and not with the pump amplitude, as in homogeneous crystals. Photon number correlations and the number of frequency/temporal modes are assessed by spectral covariance measurements. By using sum-frequency generation on the surface of a non-phase-matched crystal, we measure a cross-correlation peak with the temporal width of 90 fs.

Statistical distributions of the analog readings of an antenna-coupled THz superconducting bolometer were measured and analyzed under a special type of irradiation by low-energy fluxes of THz photons with Poisson photon statistics and controllable mean photon numbers. The photons were generated via low-gain parametric down-conversion in pulse-pumped Mg:LiNbO₃ crystal placed to a cooled cryostat together with the bolometer NbN film. Results of theoretical approximation of experimental histograms reveal the discrete nature of THz detection by superconducting bolometers and open a way for studying their quantum characteristics. It is shown that bolometer readings per pulse consist of discrete counts (“single charges”), with the mean number linearly dependent on the number of input photons. Contributions of single counts to a total analog reading are statistically distributed according to the normal law, with average values slightly depending on the number of counts in each reading. A general formula is proposed to describe the relationship between continuous statistical distribution of the bolometer readings and discrete quantum statistics of the incident photons.

We study conditions for the generation of strongly correlated photons of two extremely different frequency ranges, optical and terahertz, via the spontaneous parametric down-conversion effect in a nonlinear medium. Analytical expressions for the correlation function are derived using equations of the generalized Kirchhoff law for the second-order field moments with account of both classical thermal and quantum vacuum field fluctuations, possible inherent absorption of the medium at terahertz frequencies, and angular divergences of signal and idler radiation caused by a transverse limited spatial profile of the Gaussian pump beam. Associated with the current absence of terahertz photon counting detectors and coincidence schemes, the possible experimental limitations in measuring the second-order optical-terahertz field correlations are studied. Numerical calculations of noncollinear eee-geometry parametric down-conversion in a $\mathrm{Mg}:\mathrm{LiNb}{\mathrm{O}}_3$ crystal demonstrate angular characteristics, particular features of the temperature and spectral behavior of the second-order quantum correlation function of optical-terahertz biphotons.

The nature of the magnetic hysteresis for thin films is studied by the Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that a reconstruction of the magnetization pattern with external field occurs via the creation of vortex-antivortex pairs of a special kind at the boundaries of stripe domains. It is demonstrated that the symmetry of the order parameter is of primary importance for this problem, in particular, the in-plane magnetic anisotropy is necessary for the hysteresis.

Applications of terahertz spectroscopy methods to granulated solids are substantially constrained by the effects of scattering of the incident terahertz waves by spatial heterogeneities of a sample. The experimental results obtained by means of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy are reported for the samples of granulated 2, 4-dinitrotoluene and alpha-lactose without any special filling. We show that in samples of the same substance, but prepared in a different manner, the overall increase of the background extinction with frequency and appearance of additional extinction maxima can obscure the true absorption features of the material. In samples with large grain size, of order of 400 μm, a complicated irregular spectral structure is observed instead of a fingerprint maxima at 1.37 THz for alpha-lactose and at 1.08 THz for 2,4-dinitrotoluene. At higher frequencies no true spectral fingerprints are clearly seen in the raw experimental spectra of all the samples with the grain sizes of 130 μm and more. The influence of grain size, air-filling factor and the dispersion properties of the materials is studied. Theoretical analysis is made with the use of Mie theory in simplifying approximations and taking into account interference between the waves transmitted through a porous sample. It has been shown that the scattering-induced masking effects can be properly simulated even for the air-filled objects with initially unknown spatial and dispersion parameters. The procedure of eliminating the influence of scattering effects from the raw spectral data is proposed. Detection of true high-frequency spectral fingerprints is demonstrated using this procedure for various grain sizes up to 400 μm.

The second-order correlation function which characterizes the quantum correlation between the optical and terahertz photons generated under spontaneous parametric down-conversion has been measured for the first time. A scheme of experiment based on the analysis of analog signals from terahertz and optical detectors has been proposed. Various approaches to exclude the effect of electronic and thermal noise on the measured correlation level have been discussed. The results make it possible to expand quantum optical technologies such as quantum calibration of detectors, fabrication of single-photon sources, and imaging with single-pixel detectors to the terahertz range.