Device and application of quantum well photodetectors for terahertz region

H. Luo; H. C. Liu; C. Y. Song; Z. R. Wasilewski; A. J. SpringThorpe

doi:10.1117/12.690982

17 October 2006 Device and application of quantum well photodetectors for terahertz region

H. Luo, H. C. Liu, C. Y. Song, Z. R. Wasilewski, A. J. SpringThorpe

Proceedings Volume 6386, Optical Methods in the Life Sciences; 638611 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.690982
Event: Optics East 2006, 2006, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Abstract

We report on the progress of devices and applications of quantum-well photodetectors (QWIP) for the terahertz (~ 1-10 THz) spectrum region. We discuss device design and show that the device dark current can by effectively reduced by employing wider quantum barriers. We demonstrate several GaAs/AlGaAs QWIPs for different peak wavelength with background limited infrared performance (BLIP). We report experimental results on intersubband absorption spectra, measured using multi-pass waveguide geometry. We show that the experimentally measured intersubband energy levels agree excellently with the theoretical simulations, provided that many-body effects are taken into consideration, including exchange-correlation and depopulation effects. We report the results of QWIP photo-current spectra and detector responsivity. We discuss the high frequency capability of THz-QWIP and present experimental results of device time response measured using microwave rectification technique. We discuss its application in free space terahertz communication in combination with a terahertz quantum cascade laser (QCL). We discuss the terahertz to near infrared (THz-to-NIR) optical upconversion using a monolithic integration of THz GaAs/AlGaAs QWIP and NIR GaAs/AlGaAs LED, and its potential applications in terahertz imaging.

Citation Download Citation

H. Luo, H. C. Liu, C. Y. Song, Z. R. Wasilewski, and A. J. SpringThorpe "Device and application of quantum well photodetectors for terahertz region", Proc. SPIE 6386, Optical Methods in the Life Sciences, 638611 (17 October 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.690982

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