Vertically-aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) that demonstrate reductions of phonon thermal conductivities are ideal components for thermoelectric devices. In this paper, we present large-area silicon nanowire arrays in various lengths using a silver-induced, electroless-etching method that is applicable to both n- and p-type substrates. The measured thermal conductivities of nanowire composites are significantly reduced by up to 43%, compared to that of bulk silicon. Detailed calculations based on the series thermal resistance and phonon radiative transfer models confirm the reduction of thermal conductivity not only due to the increased air fraction, but also the nanowire size effect, suggesting the soundness of employing bulk silicon nanowire composites as efficient thermoelectric materials.

We investigate the characteristics of terahertz radiation pulses generated using biased semi-insulating and arsenic-ion-implanted GaAs photoconductive antennas with 1.5 cm aperture size under various pump fluences and bias fields. Compared with semi-insulating GaAs antenna, our arsenic-ion-implanted GaAs antenna exhibits larger bandwidth and better emission efficiency. Our simulation verifies that the superior characteristics for the latter can be partly attributed to larger optical absorption in the ion-implanted layer. For both types of antennas, we observe that the radiated peak terahertz amplitude displays an anomalous dependence on pump fluence, which deviates from the prediction given by the scaling rule. Analyzing the theoretical and simulation results, we infer that this behavior arises from band filling and two-photon absorption effects. At specific pump fluence, we find that the dependence of peak terahertz amplitude on bias field is distinct from the usual linear relationship predicted by the scaling rule.

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With Maxwell's wave equation and an auxiliary equation, we devise a novel approach to simulate terahertz (THz) pulse propagation in a typical THz time-domain spectrometer for material diagnostics. This is based on a correlation analysis of experimentally measured THz wavefrom propagated through the sample and that of a simulated one with material properties as adjustable parameters. The Lorentz model for dielectrics is assumed. Using fused quartz as an example, we find this approach can yield reliable static relative permittivity and optical constants beyond the bandwidth of a THz pulse.