Terahertz broadband spectroscopic investigations of amino acid

Abstract

We present an experimental terahertz (THz) spectroscopic investigation of amino acid using an air-breakdown-coherent detection (ABCD) system. The strong and ultra-broadband (0.1 to 10THz) terahertz radiations generated by two-color laser induced air plasma and measured by coherent heterodyne detection. The broadband THz reflection spectra of L-Lysine (C6H14N2O2) and L-Arginine (C6H14N2O2) are obtained. To solve the phase-retrieval problem in RTDS, the absorption signatures of the materials are extracted directly from the first derivative of the relative reflectance with respect to frequency. The absorption features of the two amino acids are characterized in the 0.5~6 THz region. It is found that both the two amino acids have an absorption peak at 1.10 THz.