Terahertz radiation from accelerating charge carriers in graphene under ultrafast photoexcitation

Abstract

We study the generation of THz radiation from the acceleration of ultrafast photoexcited charge carriers in graphene in the presence of a DC electric field. Our model is based on calculating the transient current density from the time-dependent distribution function which is determined using the Boltzmann transport equation within a relaxation time approximation. We include the time-dependent generation of carriers by the pump pulse by solving for the carrier generation rate using the Bloch equations in the rotating wave approximation (RWA). The linearly polarized pump pulse generates an anisotropic distribution of photoexcited carriers in the $k_x-k_y$ plane. The collision integral in the Boltzmann equation includes a term that leads to the \textit{thermalization} of carriers via carrier-carrier scattering to an effective temperature above the lattice temperature, as well as a \textit{cooling} term which leads to energy relaxation via inelastic carrier-phonon scattering. The radiated signal is proportional to the time derivative of the transient current density. In spite of the fact that the magnitude of the velocity is the same for all the carriers in graphene, there is still emitted radiation from the photoexcited charge carriers with frequency components in the THz range due to a change in the \textit{direction} of velocity of the photoexcited carriers in the external electric field as well as \textit{cooling} of the photoexcited carriers on a sub-picosecond time scale.