Carrier envelope phase shifter for broadband terahertz pulses

We demonstrated controlled shifting of the internal phase of broadband terahertz (THz) pulses. The internal phase of an ultrashort pulse is called the carrier envelope phase (CEP), which is an important parameter in the interaction of few-cycle light pulses and matter. Our CEP shifter utilizes the ultra-broadband feature of prism wave plates. We analytically derived the amount of CEP shift achievable by the CEP shifter using Jones matrixes. THz time-domain measurements clearly showed the shift of the CEP, and the results agreed well with the calculated values. The CEP shift was as high as 2π, indicating that any CEP values can be chosen using our CEP shifter.