Response of metal-insulator-metal point contact diodes to visible laser light

Video response and mixing behaviour of metal-insulator-metal point contact diodes have been investigated for visible laser light. Thermally enhanced tunneling is shown to dominate the dc detection behavior of those diodes, while mixing of frequencies being more than several MHz apart is a more complex phenomenon involving thermal, field-and photo-assisted tunneling. In further experiments the potential of point contact diodes for optical heterodyne spectroscopy was examined. Two green laser lines of 122 GHz frequency difference were mixed with the second harmonic of an appropriate microwave frequency, generated simultaneously on the diode. The modestS/N ratio achieved has to be assigned to the different behaviour of metal-insulator-metal diodes in the visible and rf range.