4.3 THz quantum-well photodetectors with high detection sensitivity

We demonstrate a high performance GaAs/AlGaAs-based quantum-well photodetector(QWP)device with a peak response frequency of 4.3 THz.The negative differential resistance(NDR)phenomenon is found in the dark currentvoltage(I-V)curve in the current sweeping measurement mode,from which the breakdown voltage is determined.The photocurrent spectra and blackbody current responsivities at different voltages are measured.Based on the experimental data,the peak responsivity of 0.3 A/W(at 0.15 V,8 K)is derived,and the detection sensitivity is higher than 10^(11)Jones,which is in the similar level as that of the commercialized liquid-helium-cooled silicon bolometers.We attribute the high detection performance of the device to the small ohmic contact resistance of-2Ωand the big breakdown bias.

Terahertz Direct Modulation Techniques for High-speed Communication Systems

Terahertz communication technology can provide abundant frequency resources,strong confidentiality,antijamming capability,communication tracking capability and the ability to achieve highspeed data transmissions and can serve as an important technical method for high-speed communications in the future.Among these terahertz communication technologies,terahertz direct modulation technology is a key means to achieve low system complexity and power consumption.In this paper,a review and outlook of terahertz direct modulation technology are proposed from the aspects of high-electron-mobilitytransistor-based terahertz direct modulation,parallelswitch terahertz direct modulation,diode-based terahertz direct modulation,quantum cascade laser-based terahertz direct modulation and new-material-based terahertz direct modulation.We hope through this paper that more readers can gain knowledge about the development and challenges of terahertz direct modulation technology for high-speed communication systems,thus promoting the development of high-speed terahertz communication technology based on direct modulation.

Symmetry-broken silicon disk array as an efficient terahertz switch working with ultra-low optical pump power

The advancement of terahertz technology in recent years and its applications in various fields lead to an urgent need for functional terahertz components,among which a terahertz switch is one example of the most importance because it provides an effective interface between terahertz signals and information in another physical quantity.To date many types of terahertz switches have been investigated mainly in the form of metamaterials made from metallic structures and optically-active medium.However,these reported terahertz switches usually suffer from an inferior performance,e.g.,requiring a high pump laser power density due to a low quality factor of the metallic metamaterial resonances.In this paper,we report and numerically investigate a symmetry-broken silicon disk based terahertz resonator array which exhibits one resonance with ultrahigh quality factor for normal incidence of the terahertz radiations.This resonance,which can never be excited for regular circular Si disks,can help to realize a superior terahertz switch with which only an ultra-low optical pump power density is required to modify the free carrier concentration in Si and its refractive index in the terahertz band.Our findings demonstrate that to realize a high terahertz transmittance change from 0 to above 50%,the required optical pump power density is more than 3 orders of magnitude smaller than that required for a split-ring resonator(SRR)based terahertz switch reported in the literature.

Optical strong coupling in hybrid metal-graphene metamaterial for terahertz sensing

We propose a terahertz hybrid metamaterial composed of subwavelength metallic slits and graphene plasmonic ribbons for sensing application.This special design can cause the interaction between the plasmon resonances of the metallic slits and graphene ribbons,giving rise to a strong coupling effect and Rabi splitting.Intricate balancing in the strong coupling region can be perturbed by the carrier concentration of graphene,which is subject to the analyte on its surface.Thereby,the detection of analyte can be reflected as a frequency shift of resonance in terahertz transmission spectra.The result shows that this sensor can achieve a theoretical detection limit of 325 electrons or holes per square micrometer.Meanwhile,it also works well as a refractive index sensor with the frequency sensitivity of 485 GHz/RIU.Our results may contribute to design of ultra-micro terahertz sensors.

Electron dynamics of active mode-locking terahertz quantum cascade laser

The pulse generation from active mode-locking terahertz quantum cascade laser is studied by Maxwell-Bloch equations.It is shown that longer dephasing time will lead to multiple pulses generation from the laser.The dependence of output field on modulation length and radio-frequency parameters is obtained.In order to achieve short pulse generation,the DC bias should close to threshold value and modulation length should be shorter than 0.256 mm.The output pulse is unstable and the envelope shows many oscillations in the presence of spatial hole burning,resulting destabilization of mode-locking.

Relative phase locking of a terahertz laser system configured with a frequency comb and a single-mode laser

Stable operation is one of the most important requirements for a laser source for high-precision applications.Many efforts have been made to improve the stability of lasers by employing various techniques,e.g.,electrical and/or optical injection and phase locking.However,these techniques normally involve complex experimental facilities.Therefore,an easy implementation of the stability evaluation of a laser is still challenging,especially for lasers emitting in the terahertz(THz)frequency range because the broadband photodetectors and mature locking techniques are limited.In this work,we propose a simple method,i.e.,relative phase locking,to quickly evaluate the stability of THz lasers without a need of a THz local oscillator.The THz laser system consists of a THz quantum cascade laser(QCL)frequency comb and a single-mode QCL.Using the single-mode laser as a fast detector,heterodyne signals resulting from the beating between the singlemode laser and the comb laser are obtained.One of the heterodyne beating signals is selected and sent to a phase-locked loop(PLL)for implementing the relative phase locking.Two kinds of locks are performed by feeding the output error signal of the PLL,either to the comb laser or to the single-mode laser.By analyzing the current change and the corresponding frequency change of the PLL-controlled QCL in each phase-locking condition,we,in principle,are able to experimentally compare the stability of the emission frequency of the single-mode QCL(f s)and the carrier envelope offset frequency(f CEO)of the QCL comb.The experimental results reveal that the QCL comb with the repetition frequency injection locked demonstrates much higher stability than the single-mode laser.The work provides a simple heterodyne scheme for understanding the stability of THz lasers,which paves the way for the further locking of the lasers and their high-precision applications in the THz frequency range.

A reflecting-type highly efficient terahertz cross-polarization converter based on metamaterials

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a wideband linear polarization converter in a reflection mode operating from 2.4 to 4.2 THz with conversion efficiency of more than 80%. Our device can expand the applications to a higher frequency band. A numerical simulation is performed for this metamaterial converter, which shows a good agreement with experimental results. Importantly, a concise and intuitive calculating model is proposed for the Fabry–Pérot cavity. The theoretical results indicate that the underlying reason for the enhanced polarization conversion is the additional phase difference induced by the resonance of the meta-structure and multiple reflections within the Fabry–Pérot cavity.

Ultrabroadband and multiband infrared/terahertz photodetectors with high sensitivity

Broadband response is pursued in both infrared(IR)and terahertz(THz)detection technologies,which find their applications in both terrestrial and astronomical realms.Herein,we report an ultrabroadband and multiband IR/THz detector based on blocked-impurity-band detecting principle.The detectors are prepared by implanting phosphorus into germanium(Ge:P),where photoresponses with a P impurity band,a self-interstitial defect band,and a vacancy-P(V-P)pair defect band are realized simultaneously.The response spectra of the detectors show ultrabroad and dual response bands in a range of 3-28μm(IR band)and 40-165μm(THz band),respectively.Additionally,a tiny mid-IR(MIR)band within 3-4.2μm is embedded in the IR band.The THz band arises from the P impurity band,whereas the IR and the MIR bands are ascribed to the two defect bands.At150 m V and 4.5 K,the peak detectivities of the three bands are obtained as 2.9×10^(12) Jones(at 3.9μm),6.8×10^(12) Jones(at 16.3μm),and 9.9×10^(12) Jones(at 116.5μm),respectively.The impressive coverage andsensitivity of the detectors are promising for applications in IR and THz detection technologies.

Subwavelength resolved terahertz real-time imaging based on a compact and simplified system

A real-time imaging system based on a compact terahertz laser is constructed by employing one off-axis parabolic mirror and one silicon lens.Terahertz imaging of water,water stains,leaf veins,human hairs,and metal wire is demonstrated.An imaging resolution of 68μm is achieved.The experiments show that this compact and simplified imaging system is suitable for penetration demonstration of terahertz light,water distribution measurement,and imaging analysis of thin samples.

Terahertz quantum cascade lasers with sampled lateral gratings for single mode operation

In this paper,we presented single mode terahertz quantum cascade lasers(THz QCLs)with sampled lateral grating emitting approximately 3.4 THz.Due to strong mode selection,the implementation of sampled lateral grating on THz QCL ridges can result in stable single longitudinal mode emission with a side-mode suppression ratio larger than 20 dB.The measured peak power of the grating laser is improved by about 11.8%compared to the power of devices with uniform distributed feedback gratings.Furthermore,the far-field pattern of the presented device is uninfluenced by grating structures.

Terahertz imaging using an optical frequency comb source

Optical frequency combs, which are generated by the cascade of a phase modulator and a Mach–Zehnder intensity modulator, are used as a polychromatic signal source in the terahertz imaging system to improve imaging quality. The interference effect caused by the monochromatic wave has been greatly suppressed.The required optical power in the presented system is as low as～30% of that in the system using the Er-doped fiber amplifier as a source, which can reduce cost and protect photodiodes from damage. This work provides an effective, low power consumption, low cost, and easy way to realize terahertz imaging with high quality and can be used in future security inspections.