Optical-Electrical Characteristics and Carrier Dynamics of Semi-Insulation GaAs by Terahertz Spectroscopic Technique

GaAs has been widely used to fabricate a variety of optoelectronic devices by virtue of its superior performance,and it is very important to accurately measure its electrical and optical properties.In this study,a semiinsulation(SI) GaAs wafer is investigated by the terahertz(THz) non-destructive testing technology.Using an air biased coherent generation and detection THz time domain spectroscopy system,the THz time domain waveform and spectrum of SI-GaAs are obtained by the time domain spectroscopy module,and its opticalelectrical characteristics including complex refractive index,permittivity and dielectric loss angle are calculated.Its carrier lifetime is measured by the optical-pump THz-probe module,and the THz pulse induced intervalley scattering in photo-excited SI-GaAs is discussed.     

Photoexcited GaAs surfaces studied by transient terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

The transmission characteristics of an air-GaAs interface and the transient absorption and index spectra of the thin, photoexcited surface layer are investigated subsequent to excitation by a femtosecond laser pulse. We find that the total phase change and transmission of a terahertz (THz) probe pulse are dominated by interface effects. This observation has important implications in the interpretation of THz time-domain spectroscopy data of absorbing media. We also observe that the THz pulse apparently arrives at the detector as much as 60 fs earlier when it is transmitted through an optically excited GaAs wafer. This effect is fully explained in terms of a frequency-dependent transmission and phase shift at the air-GaAs interface and is not associated with superluminal propagation.     

基于LT-GaAs外延片的THz片上系统

太赫兹（THz）波在物质检测方面发挥着巨大的作用,是一种非常有潜力的生化传感工具。但是传统的太赫兹时域光谱系统（TDS）结构复杂,系统的集成度低,占用空间较大。所以,如何对THz波进行有效引导、实现集成化传输并得到高质量光谱就成为太赫兹光谱系统的研究热点。太赫兹片上系统是将THz的产生、传输以及探测都集成到同一芯片上,然后通过相干探测的方法获得THz时域光谱。它可以实现对多种样品的检测,尤其在对难于取样的微量样品探测方面具有广泛的应用价值。它无需光路准直,操作简便,成品率高。两个研究工作都是基于低温砷化镓(LT-GaAs)外延片开展的。首先将一根直径为200 μm的铜线固定在LT-GaAs外延片的上方,通过真空蒸镀的方法制备出天线电极,同时得到天线间隙,研制出基于LT-GaAs外延片的THz天线。利用波长为800 nm的飞秒激光对其进行测试,得到了质量较高的THz信号,验证了天线的实用性。然后在另一外延片上利用光刻微加工工艺制作出传输线和微电极,得到了集成的THz片上系统。使用波长为1 550 nm的飞秒激光分别激发片上系统的太赫兹产生天线和探测天线,天线产生的太赫兹波在传输线上传播,在探测端同样得到了质量较高的THz时域信号,证实了THz片上系统的可行性。该方法省去了腐蚀牺牲层以及LT-GaAs薄膜的转移、键合等步骤,极大地提高了片上系统的成品率,避免了薄膜转移过程中易破碎及腐蚀液存在毒性的问题。最后,研究了外加电压对从片上系统中获得的THz波性能的影响,结果为电压越高,THz波的信号强度越强;另外,通过在传输线上方垂直放置铜箔的方法验证了THz波沿着传输线传播的事实。该研究中采用的基于LT-GaAs外延片的片上系统的制备方法简单,制作周期短,制作过程安全,应用领域广泛,这为将来与微流控芯片相结合实现对液体样品的探测打下了基础。     

A terahertz photonic crystal cavity with high Q-factors

A terahertz 1D photonic crystal cavity with very high Q-factor is demonstrated. The cavity consists of two parallel distributed Bragg mirrors and one air layer between them as defect layer. By increasing the length of the defect layer, the cavity has a very narrow transmission bandwidth of 30 MHz at resonant frequency of 336 GHz, i.e., a high Q over 1.1 × 10⁴ is achieved. Furthermore, an optically controllable THz switch is demonstrated by light irradiating on one of the middle silicon wafer in the cavity. And the power of optical beam needed for the switch is remarkably reduced to 0.16 W/cm², which is nearly 50 times smaller than that for a THz switch using a single silicon wafer.     

太赫兹片上系统中低温砷化镓薄膜光电导天线的研究

太赫兹时域光谱技术是一种在太赫兹频段内,广泛应用的光谱测量技术。这种技术可以用于许多物质的频谱分析,对于研究化学、半导体与生物分子等领域有着无可比拟的作用。然而用该系统进行样品探测时,受回波的影响频谱分辨率较低;受太赫兹波光斑大小以及待测样品与电磁波相互作用距离长短的影响,样品消耗量较多,并且整个系统的占用空间较大,这些局限性都限制了太赫兹时域光谱系统的进一步发展。为了突破太赫兹时域光谱系统的局限性,设计了一种将太赫兹泵浦区、探测区和传输波导集成到一个硅片上的太赫兹片上系统,该系统不仅能够解决上述系统的局限性,还能够省去样品测量前的光路准直环节,使样品的测量过程更加简便,同时集成化的系统也很大程度上提高了太赫兹波传输的稳定性。在太赫兹片上系统中,泵浦区和探测区的光电导天线是由低温砷化镓和金属电极制成,由于受到太赫兹片上系统的高度集成化和低温砷化镓晶体生长条件的限制,如何制备出低温砷化镓半导体薄膜衬底,并将其转移与键合,是太赫兹片上系统研制过程中的关键环节。首先利用分子束外延（MBE）技术制备出由半绝缘砷化镓、砷化镓缓冲层、砷化铝牺牲层和低温砷化镓层构成的外延片,然后利用盐酸溶液与砷化铝和低温砷化镓反应速度差别较大的原理,将200 nm厚的AlAs牺牲层腐蚀掉,从而得到2 μm厚的低温砷化镓薄膜。为了更加高效并且完整地得到低温砷化镓薄膜,研究了盐酸溶液在不同温度和不同浓度下与AlAs牺牲层的选择性腐蚀速率的关系。给出了低温砷化镓薄膜制备过程中盐酸的最佳体积比浓度和最佳温度,即在73 ℃下13.57%的盐酸溶液中进行砷化铝牺牲层的腐蚀。相比于已有工艺,这种腐蚀方法对实验设备的要求较低并且具有较高的安全性。最后,将单层低温砷化镓薄膜转移键合至硅片上,并制成光电导天线的结构。利用飞秒激光脉冲进行激发探测到太赫兹信号。由此说明,低温砷化镓薄膜的获取、转移与键合工艺能够满足芯片级太赫兹系统的制作要求,这为太赫兹片上系统的进一步研制打下了坚实的基础。     

太赫兹正六边形光子晶体光纤的液体传感

设计了一种分别填充水、酒精和苯炔等边三角形空气孔纤芯、包层空气孔排列为正六边形结构、以环烯烃共聚物作为基底材料的光子晶体光纤,利用有限元法模拟了0.3~1.5 THz频带内的液体传感特性。结果表明,设计的光子晶体光纤的灵敏度系数很高,当纤芯空气孔直径d₁=2.4 μm、包层空气填充比为0.3时,苯炔在频率0.3 THz的相对灵敏性系数最高为37.63%,在1.5 THz,限制损耗的数量级可以降至10^-7。     

2.5THz环烯烃聚合物中空芯光子晶体光纤设计与实验

采用全矢量有限元法,仿真设计了一种工作在2.5THz频段的中空芯太赫兹光子晶体光纤,用环烯烃聚合物材料(COC)制备了光纤样品,利用CO2激光泵浦气体太赫兹源搭建了测试平台并对光纤的太赫兹波传输性能进行了测试。实测光纤最低损耗0.17dB/cm、平均损耗约0.5dB/cm,在弯曲90°情况下光纤传输损耗波动小于5%,具有良好的可弯曲性;光纤输出端口的模场分布测试结果表明,光纤是以主模进行传输,太赫兹能量很好地被束缚在光纤芯中。     

Terahertz photonic states in semiconductor-graphene cylinder structures

We propose a semiconductor-graphene cylinder that can serve as a terahertz (THz) photonic crystal. In such a structure, graphene plays a role in achieving a strong mismatch of the dielectric constant at the semiconductor-graphene interface due to its two-dimensional nature and relatively low value of the dielectric constant. We find that when the radius of the outer semiconductor layer is about ρ(1)~100 μm, the frequencies of the photonic modes are within the THz bandwidth and they can be efficiently tuned via varying ρ(1). Furthermore, the dispersion relation of the photonic modes shows that a semiconductor-graphene cylinder is of excellent light transport properties, which can be utilized for the THz waveguide. This study is pertinent to the application of graphene as THz photonic devices.     

Passive Q-switching of diode-pumped Yb:YAG microchip laser with ion-implanted GaAs

We reported a passive Q-switched diode laser pumped Yb:YAG microchip laser with an ion-implanted semiinsulating GaAs wafer. The wafer was implanted with 400-kev As+ in the concentration of 1016 ions/cm2.To decrease the non-saturable loss, we annealed the ion-implanted GaAs at 500 ℃ for 5 minutes and coated both sides of the ion-implanted GaAs with antireflection (AR) and high reflection (HR) films,respectively. Using GaAs wafer as an absorber and an output coupler, we obtained 52-ns pulse duration of single pulse.     

渐变空气孔THz波光子晶体光纤的色散特性

太赫兹(THz)波是指频率介于0.1THz～10THz范围内的电磁波,即介于毫米波与红外线之间,太赫兹波有很多优越的特性,在国防、航天、医学等领域具有潜在的应用价值。本文设计了一种渐变的空气孔THz波光子晶体光纤,其包层由周期分布的渐变空气孔构成,芯区是去掉一个空气孔形成的缺陷。采用带有良匹配层(APML)吸收边界的全矢量时域有限差分法(finite-difference time-domain,FDTD)对其色散特性进行了数值分析,计算结果表明这种渐变空气孔光子晶体光纤具有较强的色散控制能力。     

低损宽频高双折射太赫兹光子带隙光纤

设计了一种低损耗、宽频段、高双折射太赫兹光子带隙光纤,呈三角晶格排列的亚波长空气孔包层实现了带隙的局域作用.利用全矢量有限元法对光纤的双折射及损耗特性进行了理论分析.结果表明,在大约0.3 THz的宽频范围内,类矩形纤芯太赫兹光子带隙光纤的损耗小于0.009 cm^-1,相双折射在10^-3数量级,群双折射可达10^-2数量级. 关键词： 太赫兹 太赫兹波导 光子晶体光纤 双折射     

Fabrication and analysis of GaAs Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on thin membranes for terahertz applications

The GaAs Schottky diode is predominantly used as the critical mixer element in heterodyne receivers in the frequency range from 300 GHz to several THz[1]. At operating frequencies above one THz the skin effect adds significant parasitic resistance to the diode which degrades the receiver sensitivity. A novel diode structure called the Schottky barrier membrane diode is proposed to decrease the skin effect resistance by reducing the current path between the Schottky and ohmic contacts. This is accomplished by fabricating the diode on a very thin membrane of GaAs (about 1 m thickness). A theoretical analysis has shown that this will reduce the substrate resistance by 60% at 3 THz. This reduction in resistance corresponds to a better frequency response which will improve the device's performance as a mixer element.This work has been supported by a grant from Texas Instruments and the National Science Foundation under contract ECS-8412477     

雪崩倍增GaAs光电导太赫兹辐射源研究进展

在飞秒激光激励下用GaAs光电导开关作为太赫兹(THz)辐射天线, 已经广泛用于太赫兹时域光谱系统, 但目前国际上都是使用GaAs光电导开关的线性工作模式, 而GaAs光电导开关的雪崩倍增工作模式所输出的超快电脉冲功率容量远大于其线性工作模式, 迄今为止, 还没有人提出用雪崩倍增机理的GaAs 光电导开关作为辐射源产生THz电磁辐射. 本文探讨了用 雪崩倍增工作模式的GaAs光电导开关作为光电导天线产生THz电磁波的可能性及研究进展. 通过理论分析及实验研究, 在实验上实现了: 1) 利用nJ量级飞秒激光触发GaAs光电导天线, 可以进入雪崩倍增工作模式; 2) 利用光激发电荷畴的猝灭模式, 可以使GaAs光电导天线载流子雪崩倍增模式的延续时间(lock-on 时间)变短. 这为利用具有雪崩倍增机理的GaAs光电导天线产生强THz辐射奠定了基础.     

Ultrafast response of multi-energy proton-bombarded GaAs photoconductors

We have investigated the ultrafast optical and optoelectronic characteristics of multi-energy proton-bombarded GaAs (GaAs:H⁺) material and devices in some detail. Photo-excited carrier lifetimes of GaAs:H⁺ were observed to be as low as 350 ± 50 fs. Photoconductive switches (PCS) fabricated on GaAs:H⁺ were found to exhibit lower dark currents (15 nA at a bias of 10 V) and higher breakdown voltage (> 100 kV/cm) than PCS's fabricated on semi-insulating (S.I.) GaAs. The temporal response of the GaAs:H⁺ PCS was about 2 ps at full-wave half minimum. Optically excited terahertz (THz) radiation from GaAs:H⁺ was reported for the first time to our knowledge. The temporal response and spectral bandwidth of the emitted THz radiation were 0.7 ps and 1.25 THz, respectively. The field strength of the THz signal was about 20 mV/cm. From the THz data, we are able to deduce that the effective carrier mobility of GaAs:H⁺ was less than 1 cm²/V-sec.     

外差式相干探测时域光谱仪对磷化铟（InP）晶片的超宽频带太赫兹光谱的探测

磷化铟（InP）属于Ⅲ-Ⅴ族化合物半导体材料, 在毫米波的应用中展示出了高性能,在非线性太赫兹器件应用上具有很大的潜力。以前关于InP的研究主要集中于太赫兹频率在0.1～4 THz的频率范围内,在4～10 THz频率范围内InP的太赫兹光学数据还是空白。该研究利用空气等离子体相干探测太赫兹波的时域光谱系统研究了无掺杂的InP晶片在超宽THz频率范围（0.5～18 THz）内的光学特性, 实验中用电离的空气作为太赫兹的发射器和探测器, 利用可以调制的局部偏压诱导二次谐波产生,使在气体中太赫兹波的相干探测成为可能,明显提高了系统的动态范围和灵敏度。产生的太赫兹频谱宽度主要被激光脉冲持续时间所限制,太赫兹脉冲通过InP晶片后相对于参考脉冲会延迟,同时振幅会降低。另外,太赫兹信号的频谱振幅在6.7～12.1 THz范围内下降到本底噪声。同时还可以看出InP晶片在6.7～12.1 THz频率范围内不透光,在0.8～6.7 THz以及12.1～18 THz频率范围内InP的吸收系数相对较低,特别是在15～17.5 THz范围内吸收系数很低并且保持相对稳定,与此同时它的折射率单调增加。这些发现将有助于基于InP晶片的非线性太赫兹器件设计。     

Optical detection of terahertz radiation by using nonlinear parametric upconversion

We describe and demonstrate sensitive room-temperature detection of terahertz (THz) radiation by nonlinearly upconverting terahertz to the near-infrared regime, relying on telecommications components. THz radiation at 700 GHz is mixed with pump light at 1550 nm in a bulk GaAs crystal to generate an idler wave at 1555.6 nm, which is separated and detected by using a commercial p-i-n diode. The THz detector operates at room temperature and has an intrinsic THz-to-optical photon conversion efficiency of 0.001%.     

具有缓变折射率的太赫兹宽带增透器件

用高阻硅制作的光学元件是太赫兹系统里常用的器件, 但是其高达3.42的相对折射率所引起的阻抗失配严重影响了太赫兹系统的功率, 因此研究人员尝试了各种各样的方式在高阻硅表面镀上有效的增透膜. 在太赫兹波段, 缺乏合适的材料是增透研究中亟需解决的一个重要问题. 介绍一种结构新颖的硅材料增透器件----- 三维光子倒置光栅. 与普通高阻硅片相比, 当结构周期为15 μm时, 该器件在0.2---7.3 THz范围内对太赫兹波具有明显的增透作用, 且覆盖了大部分太赫兹波段. 此外, 该器件的使用不受太赫兹偏振方向限制, 适用于大入射角情形, 并具有高达116.3%的相对3 dB带宽.     

Optical control over surface-plasmon-polariton-assisted THz transmission through a slit aperture

We demonstrate optical control over the transmission of terahertz (THz) radiation through a single subwavelength slit in an otherwise opaque silicon wafer. The addition of periodic corrugation on each side of the wafer allows coupling to surface plasmon polaritons, so that light not impinging directly on the slit can contribute to the transmission. A significant enhancement of the THz transmission can be achieved through control of the surface wave propagation length by excitation at optical wavelengths. The observed transmission increase is in distinct contrast to the reduction reported for photoexcitation of arrays of holes in semiconductors.     

Efficacy of proposed 2DEG-based photoconductive antenna using magnetic bias-controlled carrier transport

An externally applied magnetic field was used to induce increased photocarrier transport along the high mobility channel in GaAs/AlGaAs modulation-doped heterostructures (MDH). The terahertz (THz) emission from GaAs/AlGaAs MDH increases with increasing magnetic field, applied parallel to the heterojunction. The THz emission enhancement factors due to the magnetic field in MDH are higher than in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction and in bulk SI-GaAs. This demonstrates that properly utilizing the high-mobility channel for carrier transport promises to be a viable design consideration for efficient THz photoconductive antenna (PCA) devices. Moreover, it was observed that for MDH, as well as for an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction, the enhancement for one magnetic field direction is greater than the enhancement for the opposite direction. This is in contrast to the symmetric enhancement with magnetic field direction observed in a bulk SI-GaAs. An analysis of photocarrier trajectories under an external magnetic field supports the explanation that the enhancement asymmetry with magnetic field direction in MDH is due to the cycloid motion of electrons as affected by the GaAs/AlGaAs interface.     

High birefringence, low loss terahertz photonic crystal fibres with zero dispersion at 0.3 THz

A terahertz photonic crystal fibre (THz-PCF) is designed for terahertz wave propagation. The dispersion property and model birefringence are studied by employing the finite element method. The simulation result reveals the changing patten of dispersion parameter versus the geometry. The influence of the large frequency band of terahertz on birefringence is also discussed. The design of low loss, high birefringence THz-PCFs with zero dispersion frequency at 0.3 THz is presented.