Observation Of Terahertz Emission Research Articles

Active ballistic orbital transport in Ni/Pt heterostructure

Orbital current, defined as the orbital character of Bloch states in solids, can travel with larger coherence length through a broader range of materials than its spin counterpart, facilitating a robust, higher density and energy efficient information transmission. Hence, active control of orbital transport plays a pivotal role in the progress of the evolving field of quantum information technology. Unlike spin angular momentum, orbital angular momentum couples to phonon angular momentum efficiently via orbital-crystal momentum (L-k) coupling, allowing us to control orbital transport through crystal field potential mediated angular momentum transfer. Here, leveraging the orbital dependant efficient L-k coupling, we have experimentally demonstrated the active control of orbital current velocity in Ni/Pt heterostructure. We observe terahertz emission from Ni/Pt heterostructure via long-range ballistic orbital transport, as evidenced by the delay, and chirping in the emitted THz pulse correlating with increased Pt thickness. Additionally, we also have identified a critical energy density required to overcome collisions in orbital transport, enabling a swifter flow of orbital current. Femtosecond light driven active control of the ballistic orbital transport lays the foundation for the development of dynamic optorbitronics for transmitting information over extended distance.

Ultrafast photothermoelectric effect in Dirac semimetallic Cd3As2 revealed by terahertz emission

The thermoelectric effects of topological semimetals have attracted tremendous research interest because many topological semimetals are excellent thermoelectric materials and thermoelectricity serves as one of their most important potential applications. In this work, we reveal the transient photothermoelectric response of Dirac semimetallic Cd3As2, namely the photo-Seebeck effect and photo-Nernst effect, by studying the terahertz (THz) emission from the transient photocurrent induced by these effects. Our excitation polarization and power dependence confirm that the observed THz emission is due to photothermoelectric effect instead of other nonlinear optical effect. Furthermore, when a weak magnetic field (~0.4 T) is applied, the response clearly indicates an order of magnitude enhancement on transient photothermoelectric current generation compared to the photo-Seebeck effect. Such enhancement supports an ambipolar transport nature of the photo-Nernst current generation in Cd3As2. These results highlight the enhancement of thermoelectric performance can be achieved in topological Dirac semimetals based on the Nernst effect, and our transient studies pave the way for thermoelectric devices applicable for high field circumstance when nonequilibrium state matters. The large THz emission due to highly efficient photothermoelectric conversion is comparable to conventional semiconductors through optical rectification and photo-Dember effect.

Impurity-assisted terahertz photoluminescence in quantum wells under conditions of interband stimulated emission

Terahertz and near-infrared photoluminescence under conditions of interband stimulated emission are studied in n-GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well laser structure. The observed terahertz emission is related to the optical transitions of nonequilibrium electrons from the first electron subband and excited donor states to donor ground states in quantum wells. The opportunity to increase the intensity of impurity-assisted terahertz emission due to interband stimulated emission with the participation of impurity centres is demonstrated.

Broadband terahertz radiation from a biased two-dimensional electron gas in an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure**Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. G2009CB929303), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61271157), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2014M551678), and the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (No. 1301054B).

The broadband terahertz (THz) emission from drifting two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure at 6 K is reported. The devices are designed as THz plasmon emitters according to the Smith-Purcell effect and the ‘shallow water’ plasma instability mechanism in 2DEG. Plasmon excitation is excluded since no signature of electron-density dependent plasmon mode is observed. Instead, the observed THz emission is found to come from the heated lattice and/or the hot electrons. Simulated emission spectra of hot electrons taking into account the THz absorption in air and Fabry-Pérot interference agree well with the experiment. It is confirmed that a blackbody-like THz emission will inevitably be encountered in similar devices driven by a strong in-plane electric field. A conclusion is drawn that a more elaborate device design is required to achieve efficient plasmon excitation and THz emission.

Terahertz emission upon the band-to-band excitation of Group-IV semiconductors at room temperature

Terahertz emission upon the band-to-band excitation of Group-IV semiconductors (Si:B and Ge:Ga) at room temperature by a semiconductor laser emitting in the visible range (660 nm) is observed and investigated. It is established that, as the crystal temperature is elevated above room temperature, the emission intensity increases considerably, while the emission spectrum shifts to higher frequencies. The terahertz-emission spectra of germanium and silicon are quite similar to each other. The pump-intensity dependence of the terahertz-emission intensity is nearly linear. The above features make it possible to attribute the observed terahertz emission to the effect of crystal heating by absorbed pump radiation.

Sd-Exchange emission in ferromagnetic junctions

The spin-injection emission in a ferromagnetic junction at terahertz frequencies is theoretically analyzed. It is demonstrated that the efficiency of the emission caused by the sd-exchange interaction of the injected spin in which the electromagnetic field is involved strongly depends on the orientation angle of the magnetization of the active region relative to the magnetization direction of the injecting region. The fact that the calculated radiation frequency and power are close to the experimental results shows that the sd-exchange emission must be taken into account in the interpretation of the observed terahertz emission in magnetic junctions.

Detection and generation of submillimeter and terahertz modes in ferromagnet-antiferromagnet junctions

Spin-polarized current can tilt magnetic sublattices in an antiferromagnetic layer of a ferromagnet-antiferromagnet junction without imposing any external magnetic field. Thus, the current can induce magnetization in the antiferromagnetic layer. This effect seemingly took place in experiments on the observation of terahertz emission at the precession frequencies of current-induced magnetization. In this work, the mechanisms of motion of the induced magnetization, as well as the possibility of detection and generation of radiation emitted during such motion, are suggested and discussed. The notion of spin-injection antiferromagnetic resonance is introduced.

Terahertz emission from Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ intrinsic Josephson junction stacks with all-superconducting electrodes

Terahertz (THz) emission has been recently detected from intrinsic Josephson junction (IJJ) stacks made of the high critical temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (BSCCO). The most employed structure is a mesa standing on a big pedestal of a single crystal with a thin gold layer as its top electrode. In this work, a large (300 × 50 × 1.2 μm3) IJJ stack with superconducting electrodes was fabricated and studied. The stack consisted of N ≈ 800 IJJs. It was prepared with a double-sided fabrication process, and significant THz emission was detected. The output power is comparable to the emission power detected from mesa structures, obviously not weakened by the superconducting upper electrode. The observation of THz emission from the double-sided structure suggests that off-chip THz emission from IJJs can be obtained not only from mesa structures and, most importantly, that the emission power can be potentially enhanced in integrated multi-stack radiation sources.

Causality-based method for determining the time origin in terahertz emission spectroscopy

We propose a method for determining the time origin on the basis of causality in terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy. The method is formulated in terms of the singly subtractive Kramers-Kronig relation, which is useful for the situation where not only the amplitude spectrum but also partial phase information is available within the measurement frequency range. Numerical analysis of several simulated and observed THz emission data shows that the misplacement of the time origin in THz waveforms can be detected by the method with an accuracy that is an order of magnitude higher than the given temporal resolutions.

Nitride based nanotransistors as new sources and detectors of THz radiations

AbstractThe plasma waves in gated two‐dimensional electron gas have a linear dispersion law, similar to the sound waves. The transistor channel is acting as a resonator cavity for the plasma waves, which can reach frequencies in the Terahertz (THz) range for a sufficiently short gate length Field Effect Transistors (FETs). THz emission and detection by nanometer III‐V transistors have been recently reported. In this work we report on THz emission and detection by nanometer GaN/AlGaN HEMTs. In particular, we show that specific GaN properties allow to observe THz emission up to room temperature. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Terahertz emission mechanisms in InAsxP1−x

The terahertz emission mechanisms from the surface of bulk InAsxP1−x crystals have been examined. The dominant terahertz emission mechanism from InAsxP1−x for low-fluence optical excitation is the photo-Dember effect for As compositions of 78% and greater while the surface field effect is dominant for As compositions of 50% and lower for the measured transport properties. The observed terahertz emission magnitude from the photo-Dember effect increased with As composition due to decreasing absorption depth. The observed terahertz emission magnitude from the surface field effect decreased with increasing As composition and was lower than modeled values due to the lower high-field mobility in the depletion region in those samples.

Carrier dynamics in ion-implanted GaAs studied by simulation and observation of terahertz emission

We have studied terahertz (THz) emission from arsenic-ion implanted GaAs both experimentally and using a three-dimensional carrier dynamics simulation. A uniform density of vacancies was formed over the optical absorption depth of bulk GaAs samples by performing multi-energy implantations of arsenic ions (1 and 2.4MeV) and subsequent thermal annealing. In a series of THz emission experiments the frequency of peak THz power was found to increase significantly from 1.4 to 2.2THz when the ion implantation dose was increased from 10^13 to 10^16 cm-3. We used a semi-classical Monte-Carlo simulation of ultra-fast carrier dynamics to reproduce and explain these results. The effect of the ion-induced damage was included in the simulation by considering carrier scattering at neutral and charged impurities, as well as carrier trapping at defect sites. Higher vacancy concentrations and shorter carrier trapping times both contributed to shorter simulated THz pulses, the latter being more important over experimentally realistic parameter ranges.

Terahertz emission via ultrashort-pulse excitation of magnetic metal films.

We observe terahertz emission by optical rectification of an intense 1.5-eV, 50-fs pulse in single-crystal iron thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The azimuthal dependence of the emission indicates the presence of a magnetic nonlinearity and a nonmagnetic surface nonlinearity.

Transport in narrow minigap superlattices and the terahertz Bloch oscillator

Transport properties of GaAs–GaAlAs weak barrier superlattices are studied by computer simulation and observation of current–voltage curves and terahertz emission. Existence of terahertz dynamic negative differential conductivity is demonstrated in the simulation. The observed terahertz emission is considered as due to incoherent Bloch oscillation emission. Prospects for the terahertz Bloch oscillator based on such superlattices are discussed.

Coherent terahertz emission from optically pumped intersubband plasmons in parabolic quantum wells

We report on few-cycle terahertz (THz) emission from modulation-doped parabolic quantum wells. The quantum wells are optically excited by near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The observed THz emission corresponds to the intersubband plasmon of the parabolic quantum well. The emission frequency is independent of the number of optically generated carriers. We identify the excitation mechanism of the intersubband plasmon and hence THz emission to be ultrafast field screening. This mechanism allows for an optically driven THz emission from a completely symmetric nanostructure, in contrast to quantum beats which require a broken symmetry for their excitation.