Picosecond Polarisation Detector for Infrared and Terahertz Radiation

Abstract

We report on a room temperature detector of laser light ellipticity allowing determination of azimuth, ellipse shape, and the sense of rotation of the light vector with subnanosecond time resolution. The detector operation is demonstrated for THz radiation detection, but the same technique can be extended for detection of infrared or visible light. The detection system is based on the simultaneous measurement of three different photocurrents obtained from three unbiased semiconductor detector elements stacked in-line together.