Research on terahertz radiation peak control of photoconductive antenna

Abstract

This paper studies the interaction effect between the micro-structure photoconductive antenna (PCA) and femtosecond laser, the control of radiated terahertz (THz) wave, and the radiation regulation mechanism of the THz wave for the photoconductive antenna (PCA). The Drude-Lorentz theory model is used to solve the photocurrent density, which is then iterated to the excitation grid by FDTD method. And then the time-varying electromagnetic fields is solved by Maxwell’s equations. The radiated THz wave from the near field to far field in the multi-layer medium is got through the Green's Function of transmission line, and the relationship between the photocurrent and impedance of the radiation is established. At the same time, the relationship between the photocurrent and the magnetic resonance model is also established. The control mechanism of THz wave radiation from micro-structure S-shaped PCA is analyzed by simulation. The results show that the radiation impedance of the equivalent model is changed after split ring resonator (SRR) is introduced into the H-shaped PCA. Meanwhile, it is known that the coupling effect exists when the coupling coefficient is not zero. With the increasing of the coupling coefficient, and the radiation intensity of the resonance frequency peak increases and shifts. The adjusting range of the center frequency between 0.50−0.80 THz, the frequency modulation degree is 75%, and the peak radiation efficiency increases by 70% after simulating the S-shaped PCA. This work lays an important foundation for the design of THz wave resonance center frequency range and structure of high-power PCA.