A highly sensitive scanning far-infrared microscope with quantum Hall detectors

Abstract

We develop a highly sensitive scanning far-infrared (FIR) microscope, which consists of a silicon solid immersion lens that probes FIR and a condenser lens that focuses the FIR onto a small quantum Hall detector (400 μm×400 μm). The solid immersion lens is in contact with the backside of a Hall bar sample, which is moved with a mechanical XY stage. The quantum Hall detector, which function as a narrow band FIR detector (bandwidth of about 2%), is a Hall bar with a large length-to-width ratio in integer quantum Hall effect regimes. The microscope is successfully applied to image extremely weak cyclotron emissions from quantum Hall devices with a spatial resolution of about 50 μm and a signal-to-noise ratio improved by a factor 18 compared to a previous system.