Fast Room Temperature Detection of State of Circular Polarization of Terahertz Radiation

Abstract

We report on a room temperature detector which allows to determine and monitor the state of polarization of torahertz radiation with picosecond temporal resolution. The detector is based on the circular photogalvanic effect recently observed in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. The circular photogalvanic effect yields in response to elliptically polarized radiation a current signal proportional to the degree of circular polarization. The peak current signal occurs in unbiased samples for circular polarization, vanishes at linear polarization and changes sign by switching the helicity from right-handed to left-banded. The detector consists of a (113)A MBE grown p-GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well structure. The response has been measured in the wavelength range between 76 micrometers and 280 micrometers at normal incidence of the radiation on the sample.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADP012605

Entities

People

  • Hermann Ketterl
  • Sergey Ganichev
  • Wilhelm Prettl

Organizations

  • Russian Academy of Sciences

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Angle Of Incidence
  • Charge Carriers
  • Circular Polarization
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Electromagnetic Fields
  • Electrons
  • Free Electrons
  • Laser Beams
  • Lasers
  • Materials
  • Polarization
  • Quantum Wells
  • Radiation
  • Semiconductor Devices
  • Semiconductors
  • Terahertz Radiation

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electromagnetic Wave Scattering and Antenna Radiation Engineering
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing