Terahertz photoresponse of quantum wires in magnetic fields

Abstract

We have investigated the terahertz photoresponse of quantum wires in high magnetic fields, employing intense far-infrared (FIR) radiation from the UCSB Free-Electron Lasers. Both GaAs-based and InAs-based quantum wires, with widths ranging from 50 nm to 1 μm, were studied. At high FIR power we observed Shubnikov–de Haas type oscillations in photoresponse versus magnetic field, B, resulting from non-resonant electronic heating the oscillations were much more pronounced than those in resistance versus B. At low FIR power we observed resonant peaks due to magnetoplasmon excitations, whose strength shows strong polarization-dependence and whose energy extrapolates to a finite value at zero B. These results provide a powerful tool for characterizing 1D electronic states in quantum wires.