TERA-MIR radiation: materials, generation, detection and applications

Abstract

This special edition is dedicated to original papers covering topics with the areas of interest of COST ACTION MP1204 whose main objective is to advance novel materials, concepts and device designs for generating and detecting THz (0.3-10 THz) and Mid Infrared (10-100 THz) radiation using semiconductor, superconductor, metamaterials and lasers and to beneficially exploit their common aspects within a synergetic approach. The results achieved benefit from the unique networking and capacity-building capabilities provided by the COST framework to unify these two spectral domains from their common aspects of sources, detectors, materials and applications. We are building a platform to investigate interdisciplinary topics in Physics, Electrical Engineering and Technology, Applied Chemistry, Materials Sciences and Biology and Radio Astronomy. In this sense THz and MIR are considered jointly, the driving force for both regimes being applications. The main emphasis of the research presented here is on new fundamental material properties, concepts and device designs that are likely to open the way to new products or to the exploitation of new technologies in the fields of sensing, healthcare, biology, and industrial applications. End users are: research centres, academic, well-established and start-up companies and hospitals. The strong coupling of THz radiation and material excitations has potential to improve the quantum efficiency of THz devices.In the last few years, MIR lasers, light-emitting diodes, detectors and frequency converters have featured significantly improved wavelength tunability, high spectral purity, higher powers and room temperature operation, which are necessary for commercial applications (Tittel et al. 2011;Razeghi 2013). However, whereas miniaturised and cost-efficient optical technology for wavelengths up to about 2.5 µm has become readily available at a very high standard, sources for longer wavelength applications have not yet reached the desired

Enhancement of terahertz photoconductive antenna operation by optical nanoantennas

“…One of the simplest, but perhaps not the most efficient, way to obtain the THz waves is by accelerated movement of the separated charge carriers in the surface field of a semiconductor under ultrashort light pulses . One of the physical mechanisms that drive the carriers inside a semiconductor is the photo‐Dember effect .…”

“…Until relatively recently, the generation of coherent THz waves was an extremely difficult task. However, research in semiconductors , and in the interaction of short (compared with all relaxation times) optical pulses with semiconductor and nonlinear materials ( photoconductivity effect ) stimulated the development of compact low‐power THz radiation transmitters.…”

Near-Field Characterization of Conductive Micro-resonators for Terahertz Sensing

“…To advance terahertz (THz) technology for security applications, including the detection of explosives and drugs through their distinctive THz and mid-infrared 'signatures' [1], it is essential to develop efficient THz sensors. Extreme sensitivity can be achieved in resonant systems.…”

Simulations of mid infrared emission of InAsN semiconductors

“…Luminescence, absorption and transmission spectra play a major role in the characterization of new materials and optoelectronic devices operating from the THz to the UV ranges [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In this paper we apply an accurate analytical approximation for luminescence that can be easily programmed and includes the main many body effects required to describe bulk semiconductors. The luminescence is connected to the nonlinear absorption and gain and the expressions delivered reduce exactly to Elliott's formula in the low density limit.…”