Abstract
In this review, we introduce our recent study on terahertz pulse generation from silver nanoparticle ink.
On the ink's surface, complex nanostructures are spontaneously formed by a baking process. Such
metallic nanostructures, which enhance electric fields by plasmon resonance, increase the emission of
terahertz waves. The structures formed on the ink surface depend on the baking temperatures, and the
generation efficiency of the terahertz waves was large for samples baked around the transition
temperatures of the ink from the insulator to the metal. We discuss the relation among the baking
temperature, the nanostructures, and the emitted terahertz waves, based on the percolation process of the
nanoparticles dispersed in the ink. We also describe the fabrication of terahertz sources that effectively
emit a specific frequency by combining spontaneously formed nanostructures with microstructures made
using inkjet printers or laser ablation processes.
