Photo-conductive terahertz source (PCA) has been widely used in the terahertz time-domain spectral system (THz-TDS). In the THz-TDS system, the biased PCA is triggered by a femtosecond laser to radiate terahertz waves to free space due to the accelerated motion of photogenerated carriers under the bias electric field, and a pulse current is formed in the PCA bias loop. Generally, the circuit that loads bias voltage to PCA has different circuit designs, so there is inevitably a specific inductance in the base circuit of PCA mounting. The electromagnetic inertia caused by this will significantly affect the pulse width of the current in the circuit. The pulse width of the current pulse will be widened with the increase of the circuit inductance. Therefore, whether the inductance of The PCA circuit will affect the character of the THz wave radiated from PCA to free space is a problem faced by the circuit design based on PCA. In this paper, inductance elements with different inductance values are added to the PCA circuit, and the time domain waveform and spectrum of THz wave radiated by PCA are tested experimentally. The results show that the inductance value in the PCA circuit has no noticeable effect on the THz wave released by PCA, thus providing an experimental basis for designing the THz PCA substrate circuit applied on different occasions.
To analyze the carrier lifetime of Si, a 0.4 mm thickness high-resistivity silicon had been investigated by the optical-pump-terahertz-probe (OPTP) system. The terahertz time domain curve and frequency spectrum (bandwidth of > 6THz) of Si are achieved by the time domain spectroscopy mode, and its characteristic parameters, including refractive index and absorption coefficient, were obtained. And the carrier lifetime of Si was measured by the OPTP mode, the result is about 905 ps.
In this paper, cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) was analyzed by THz time domain spectroscopy (TDS) system at room temperature. By recording time domain signal of terahertz radiation field, frequency spectrum can be obtained by Fourier transform. Then the refractive index and dielectric constant in THz band are calculated. This proves that the THz-TDS system has a potential application for detecting the aging characteristic of XLPE.
The ultrafast photoconductive characteristics of GaAs were investigated by the optical-pump terahertz-probe (OPTP) method at room temperature. In our experiment, a significant decrease of the terahertz transmittance has been observed when the time delay between the optical pump pulse and the terahertz probe pulse was adjusted. When the optical excitation occurred on the surface of GaAs, the free carriers increase. Results regressed the experimental curve and obtained the carrier lifetime is 681ps.
The photoconductive antenna (PCA) is one of the most common devices to generate terahertz (THz) wave, whose radiation efficiency is largely determined by the working conditions. In order to improve the power of THz wave, the influence of pump laser and bias voltage on the intensity of the THz wave radiated by PCA was studied through experiment and the optimum working conditions of PCA was obtained through the theoretical analysis, these are the maximum safe voltage and saturated laser energy. Only under the optimum conditions can the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)of THz wave radiated by PCA be the highest and the PCA would not breakdown.
Terahertz (Thz) photoconductive antenna is one of the most common devices for the generation of terahertz wave. Basing on the theory of current instantaneous impact model, the most effective way of improving the THZ wave power is to increase bias voltage and laser power, but the damage and the breakdown of photoconductive antenna is easy to occur when the bias voltage increases. In this paper, the physical breakdown mechanism of the antenna is researched on the different trigger positions and the different bias voltages. Trigger position is more likely to be breakdown because of the local high electric field stimulated by photon-generated carriers. Increasing bias voltage not only caused the current increasing quickly, but also ablated thermal breakdown of antenna electrode and resulted in antenna failure.
By adding different inductance to the bias voltage circuit of the photoconductive antenna, the changes of the time-domain waveform peak value and spectral bandwidth of THz radiation from the photoconductive antenna were observed, and further studied the influence on the characteristics of THz radiation from the inductance of photoconductive antenna circuit when designing the photoconductive antenna. According to the experiments, it is found that different inductance values have no prominent effect on the peak value of time-domain waveform and spectrum bandwidth of THz radiation from the photoconductive antenna.
The determination method of laser damage of thin film and the evaluation method of damage threshold are indispensable for enhancing anti-laser ability of infrared system observation window and its operating performance. A novel method for determining laser damage threshold of thin film is proposed. Firstly, by using the two images that has taken from CCD before and after laser illumination, the method realizes the image matching the damaged image and the undamaged image which is regarded as template image through the control point examination and the affine transformation. Secondly, the damage threshold of thin film is examined through analyzing the average gray level and standard deviation of various regions of the image. Finally, a algorithm based on template image match is established. The research on examining the damage threshold for substrate Si shows that the method, which combine with image match calibration technology, is simple and feasible, and can be used to determinate the damage threshold of thin film.
The challenges of terahertz (THz) technology exist in the development of new or improved sources of THz
radiation and detection technologies. In general, inexpensive, fast, and room temperature operation THz detectors are not
readily available. A glow discharge neon lamp can serve as a THz detector, and holds great potential for various THz
sensing and imaging applications. Neon lamps THz detector has many advantages such as low cost, fast response time,
large dynamic range, broad spectral range, and room temperature operation. In this paper, the performance of the THz
detector based on glow discharge neon lamps was evaluated. The detector was successfully used in a THz imaging
system, the THz images obtained by the detector was demonstrated and compared with that obtained by a Schottky
detector.at
Based on the analysis of temperature field generated when semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive switch irradiated by
light pulse, the paper focuses on the light damage induced by nanosecond laser pulse with 1.06μm wavelength at high
repetition frequencies in switch materials. On the basis of the thermal conduction theory, the transient temperature field
in the materials is simulated in a computer by using the finite difference method, the main reasons of damage induced by
laser in chip material are analyzed according to simulation results and experimental results of the damage test, and the
damage mechanism is discussed.
Many factors influence the radiation power of terahertz (THz) emitters including photoconductive substrate material,
antenna geometrical structure and excite light power. In this paper we mainly focus on the performance of
semi-insulating (SI) GaAs photoconductive antennas with different geometrical sizes. Three kinds of antennas were
prepared with the same structure, material and electrode width (100μm), but with different electrodes gaps of 50μm,
100μm and 150μm, respectively. They were excited by a femto-second fiber laser and tested with THz generation
capability. It turns out that the three antennas have a same spectrum scope of 0.2-3THz. The small gap antenna can emit
higher THz radiation with lower voltage but it was easy to burn down, that's why a large gap is needed to get higher THz
power. Triggered by the same laser of several nJ, peak frequency moves to high frequency with decrease of electrode
gaps. Radiation field screening is the dominant causation.
Experiment of a lateral semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch (SI-GaAs PCSS) with different
electrode gaps triggered by 900nm semiconductor laser is reported. With the biased voltage of 0.2KV~3.0KV, the linear
electrical pulse is outputted by SI-GaAs PCSS. When laser energy is very low, the semi-insulating GaAs PCSS with
1.5mm electrode gap is triggered by laser pulse, the output electrical pulse samples is instable. When the energy of the
laser increases, the amplitude and the width of the electrical pulse also increase. It indicates that a stable electrical pulse
is obtained while laser energy is high. With the biased voltage of 2.8kV, the SI-GaAs PCSS with 3mm electrode gap is
triggered by laser pulse about 10nJ in 200ns at 900nm. The SI-GaAs PCSS switches a electrical pulse with a voltage up
to 80V. The absorption mechanism by Franz-Keldysh effect under high-intensity electric field and EL2 deep level
defects is discussed.
The structure and working mechanism of a photoconductive photodetector are compared with a p+-i-n+ (PIN) photodiode
and a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector which is regarded as two back-to-back Schottky barrier
photodiodes. Because a photoconductive photodetector has the features of high critical field strength, especially no
junction capacitance and no dead zone, it has the main merits of high signal-noise ratio, ultrafast response and high
quantum efficiency. We fabricate two photoconductive photodetectors in a lateral configuration on a semi-insulating (SI)
gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafer, which wavelength range of response is from UV to 1.73μm due to two-photon
absorption. It is shown by the volt-ampere characteristics curve that the dark leakage current of 30μm-gap SI GaAs
photoconductive photodetector at a bias field of 66 V/cm is less than 1.2 μA. Our experiment has demonstrated that SI
GaAs photoconductive photodetectors are noteworthily superior to high-speed Si PIN photodetectors to measure
ultrashort pulse lasers with the properties of ultrafast response, ultrawide spectral range, high signal-noise ratio and ease
of fabrication.
Experiments of a lateral semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch triggered by nanosecond serial laser pulses were reported. The switches were insulated by solid multi-layer transparent dielectrics. Jitter-free electrical pulses with steady voltage amplitude from the 0.5 mm-gap GaAs switches were observed. Its change of amplitude was less than 1.1%, the triggered jitter-time was less than 10ps, and pulse width was up to sub-nanosecond. The Jitter-free and steady speciality of electrical pulses from the photoconductive semiconductor switch was analyzed. It was indicated that ultra-fast electrical pulse with steady voltage amplitude and pico-second triggered jitter-time can be obtained by controlling switch trigger condition and optimizing switch design.
This paper discussed the SI-GaAs photoconductive switch entering into the nonlinear mode under the high biased
field and the result of photovoltaic delay, as well as, analyzed the phenomena of electric pulses delay under the
high biased field. Meanwhile, pose a theory that the captive effects of impurities in deep energy level of
semi-conductor materials is the main reason of photovoltaic delay, moreover, calculation to account the
relationship between the transmission of charge domain and photovoltaic delay, and received a result that
inosculate with the experiment.
High power sub-nanosecond electrical pulse system based on photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) is reported.
To get high power sub-nanosecond electrical pulse, experiments of three kinds of switches such as a lateral
semi-insulating GaAs PCSS, gas gap added into the two electrodes of the switch on the GaAs chip and combinatorial
switchs of GaAs PCSS with gas switch are triggered by nano-second laser pulse. The source of the triggered laser is
YAG lasers, and the width of the laser is about 3.5 ns. A maximum current is only 38A by a single 3.5mm PCSS. The
combinatorial switch of a 3mm-gap PCSS and a 0.6~0.8mm gas switch is triggered at the biased voltage 4000V, a high
current pulse is acquired with the peak value above 5160A, and ns risetime. The voltage transmission efficiency is more
than 100% (129%), which can not be answered for the ohm-theorem. This phenomena is explained with the theorem of
plasma.
We have studied the temporal characteristics of terahertz radiation generated by a biased photoconductor antennas
triggered by an ultra-short optical pulse. The calculations are based on the current surge model of carrier transport in
semiconductors. In our model, we include screening of the bias field by the space charge induced by carrier transport and
by the generated terahertz radiation in the model, describing the electromagnetic radiation from a large aperture
photoconductor. The surface current density affected by screening, the influence of the exciting optical pulse, time-dependent
surface conductivity and time-dependent mobility are also taken into account in the model to describe the
electromagnetic radiation from photoconductor antennas. Use these expressions the effect of the optical influence, the
surface current density and time-dependent conductivity and mobility have been discussed in detail. The results show
that new calculation model is more suitable for photoconductor antennas.
The Drude-Lorentz theory was used to calculate carrier transport in semi-insulating semiconductors when the biased
band-engineered heterostructures photoconductive antennas with very short lifetimes radiating terahertz. But the
conventional Drude-Lorentz theory was suitable for the small dipole aperture antennas, the calculations results indicated
that when a biased photoconductive antenna is pumped by femtosecond laser pulses to generate THz radiation, a major
portion of the THz radiation is due to the ultrafast change of the carrier density. So the new calculation model of THz
radiation from large-aperture photoconductive antennas was reported, which took into account the interaction between
electrons and holes, trapping of carriers in mid-gap states, scattering of carriers, dynamical space-charge effects,
radiation field screening effect and gave a melioration of the calculation of carrier' density. Several simulation results
and analysis of the effects of different factors of THz radiation based on new calculation results were shown, by which
the new calculation model was proved more suitable for large-aperture antennas.
Terahertz electromagnetic radiation has been generated successfully with semi-insulating Gallium Arsenide(GaAs) photoconductive switches in linear mode, but haven't detected any radiation under nonlinear mode of photoconductive antenna. Nevertheless, compared with linear mode, the photoconductive switches in the mode of nonlinear has a sharper current rise. In this condition, the possibility of generating terahertz wave via the mode of nonlinear of photoconductive
switches has discussed. We based on Drude-Lorentz theory and optically activated domain theory of nonlinear mode of photoconductive antenna, instantaneous response of photoexcited carriers in the mode of nonlinear is analyzed, and carrier dynamic characteristic connected with terahertz radiation in semi-insulating GaAs is discussed. The amplitude of THz radiation originating from impact ionization and acceleration in domain electric field is calculated. According to theory of far field radiation of terahertz wave, it can arrived at that the electric field intensity of far field of THz wave has a direct proportion to the derivative of current density in photoconductive antenna. For reason given above, the intensity of single THz wave with single triggering under the mode of nonlinear stronger than intensity of linear mode can be derived.
A novel nano-antenna for the generation and applications of THz wave is proposed based on the carbon nanotube. The
geometric structure and radiation properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) antenna at THz span have been investigated by
the finite integral numerical methods. The designed typical CNT antenna arrays (λ=3.0×104nm, L=0.485λ, R=2.712nm,
d=0.1λ) operate from 9.3 THz to 10.2 THz, and main resonant frequency is 9.7 THz. The simulated -10dB return loss
(S11) bandwidths is about 10% and the standing wave ratio is less than 1.5 at the center frequency of 9.7THz with the
total radiation efficiency in excess of 85%. The maximum gains for 5×5, 15×15, 25×25 CNT antenna array are 5.92dB,
8.19dB and 8.50dB in the center frequency, respectively. The details of THz antenna characteristics such as field
distribution, surface current profile, standing wave ratio, scattering coefficient and gain are presented and discussed. The
overall results could be suitable for the design of CNT antenna array generating THz wave.
The experiment result of series photoconductive switches triggered by ns laser pulse is reported. The series switches is composed by two semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive switches with 3mm electrode gap and the electrodes at two sides. Both electrodes touch each other. When it is triggered by ns laser pulse about 2mJ at 532nm, with the biased voltage of 1200V, linear mode of the series switches is observed. Then, laser energy and the biased voltage add to 5mJ and 4000V, the series switches still works in linear mode. When it is triggered by ns laser pulse about 6mJ at 1064nm, with the biased voltage of 3500V, the series switches works in linear mode. When laser energy and the biased voltage are 10mJ and 4000V, the series switches gives a double wave crest waveform. However, with the biased voltage of 6700V and laser energy of 15mJ, series switches gives trend of nonlinear mode. When laser energy rises to 20mJ, nonlinear mode is clearer. Even at 5000V and 30mJ, trend of nonlinear mode is observed. The results indicate that double wave crest appears while series switches works from linear mode to nonlinear mode. Capacitance effect caused by electrodes of switches touch is discussed. And explanation is given that double wave crest is attributed to surge caused by capacitance. When biased voltage and laser energy are enough, high gain of carries is very obvious. Effect of capacitance decreases and double wave crest disappears. Then the series switches is going to nonlinear mode. This explanation matches experiment result.
The experiment result of semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) with different electrode
gaps triggered by semiconductor laser is reported. With the biased voltage of 500V, the semi-insulating GaAs PCSS with
2mm electrode gap is triggered by laser pulse with 5ns pulse width and repetition rate of 15 kHz, then two groups of
electrical pulse samples indicate that laser pulse is instable when laser energy is very low. With the biased voltage of
210V, the GaAs PCSS with 0.5mm electrode gap is triggered by the laser pulse in several dozens nanoseconds at 905nm
with a repetition rate of 2 kHz. A stable linear electrical pulse is observed. When the energy of the laser increases, the
amplitude and the width of the electrical pulse also increase. It indicates that a stable electrical pulse is obtained while
laser energy is high. With the biased voltage of 2400V, the GaAs PCSS with 1mm electrode gap is triggered by laser
pulse about 100nJ in 40ns at 904nm. The GaAs PCSS switches a electrical pulse with a voltage up to 1700V. Carriers
accumulation effect is discussed and the critical value of carriers accumulation effect is given. The relation of the biased
voltage, electrode gap and carriers accumulation effect is also discussed. The concentration of deep EL2 traps in GaAs
has a certain effect on nonlinear mode of GaAs PCSS.
The experiments of ultra-wide-band electromagnetic radiation from Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches
(PCSS's) triggered by high repeating frequency YAG ps laser pulse are reported. Based on the experimental results of
GaAs PCSS's and InP PCSS's in the linear mode, it is indicated that the rise time of ultra-fast electric pulse generated by
PCSS's depends on the rise time and the width of the triggering laser pulse. The fall time of the electric pulse is mainly
effected by the lifetime of the carriers. By analyzing the relationship between the time-domain characteristic and the
frequency-domain characteristic of the ultra-fast electric pulse generated by PCSS's, it is found that the frequency band
of electromagnetic radiation is mainly determined by the rise time and the fall time of the ultra-fast electric pulse. The
high-frequency component of frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation is determined by the rise time of electric
pulse, and the low-frequency component is determined by the fall time. The ultra-fast electric pulse whose rise time is
less than 100ps is obtained from GaAs PCSS's, and the ultra-fast electric pulse whose rise time is about 200ps is
obtained from InP PCSS's.
In this paper, experiments of a lateral semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch triggered by nanosecond laser pulses were reported. The switches were insulated by solid multi-layer transparent dielectrics. Jitter-free electrical pulses with steady voltage amplitude from the 0.5 mm-gap GaAs switches were observed when biased with low voltage and triggered by serial laser pulses. Its change of amplitude was less than 1.2%, the triggered jitter-time was less than 10ps, and pulse width was up to sub-nanosecond. The effect of pulse energy change on the amplitude generated photoconductive semiconductor switch was analyzed. It was indicated that ultra-fast electrical pulse with steady voltage amplitude and pico-second triggered jitter-time can be obtained by controlling switch trigger condition and optimizing switch design.
Experiments of a lateral semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive switch, both linear and nonlinear mode of the switch were observed when the switch was triggered by 1064 nm laser pulses, with energy of 1.9 mJ and the pulse width of 60 ns, and operated at biased electric field of 4.37 kV/cm. It’s wavelength is longer than 876nm, but the experiments indicate that the semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive switches can absorb 1064 nm laser obviously, which is out of the absorption range of the GaAs material. It is not possible to explain this behavior by using intrinsic absorption mechanism. We think that there are two mostly kinds of absorption mechanisms play a key part in absorption process, they are the two-steps-single-photon absorption that based on the EL2 energy level and two-photon absorption.
Monte-Carlo method is adopted in GaAs PCSS's simulation, In the case of high optical fluence, space-charge field can intensity influence the movement of the carrier. Thus, space-charge field can intensity influence not only the shape of photo-electric current of PCSS's, but also the terahertz out put of photo-conducting antenna. In this paper, the forming and movement of space-charge field are simulated by means of Monte-Carlo method. And the result of simulate indicates that optically activated charge multi-domain exists in photoconductor. The forming of multi-domain is also explained in this paper.
We report the experimental results of a large-aperture biased semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive dipole antenna, with a gap of 3 mm between two Au/Ge/Ni electrodes, triggered by 800 nm Ti-sapphire laser pulses with 82 MHz repetition rate. A direct comparison is made between insulated GaAs dipole antenna with a Si3N4 layer and bare GaAs dipole antenna. The radiation amplitude present linear to the exciting power when the applied voltage is fixed. The Si3N4 insulated GaAs dipole antenna can hold higher biased voltage than normal GaAs dipole antenna; its terahertz radiation generation efficiency is significantly higher than normal GaAs dipole antenna. The maximum voltage can be hold by the Si3N4 insulated GaAs dipole antenna is about 2 times higher than normal GaAs dipole antennas. We simulate the THz radiations from insulated GaAs dipole antenna with Si3N4 layer and bare GaAs dipole antenna. The waveforms of the simulated normalized surface field are in close agreement with the waveforms of the experimental results.
GaAs PCSS's can work under linear and nonlinear modes. When the PCSS's work at the field below 3.5 kV/cm, current pulse string and corresponding light pulse string have the same rise time and pulse width. The resistance of PCSS's recovers, as soon as the light pulse disappears. When the electrical field is larger than 4.3 kV/cm, the light energy is greater than 0.46 mJ, GaAs-PCSS's work at nonlinear mode, which also is called high gain mode or lock-on effect. By calculation, Gunn domains come into being in GaAs in lock-on effect, and the high-gain mechanism is explained by optically activated charge domain model. So the microcosmic conditions of lock-on have been found. The requirement on the triggering laser energy is essential to meet the requirement of Gunn-domain formation by generating enough carriers. The requirement on the electrical field threshold is borne on the requirement of NDR threshold (Gunn threshold), which ranges from 3.2 kV/cm to 4 kV/cm for GaAs. In our experiments, the electric field threshold of high-gain mode is from 4.1 kV/cm to 11 kV/cm, which is higher than NDR threshold of GaAs. We can reduce the electrical field down to Gunn threshold by designing the external circuit. In this paper, two circuits are introduced which is designed by Sandia National Laboratories, and can be used to induce fast recovery from lock-on.
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