Detecting terahertz wave by microphone based on the photoacoustic effect in graphene foam

Abstract Terahertz (THz) wave plays important roles in the research of material properties, non-invasive human security check and next generation wireless communication. The progress scientific technological applications THz is strongly dependent on improvement detectors. Here a novel detection scheme proposed which radiation detected by an audible microphone based photo-thermo-acoustic (PTA) effect graphene foam. Thanks to room-temperature broadband electromagnetic absorption characteristics foam fast heat transfer between ambient air, this method not only inherits advantages photo-thermal detector such as full bandwidth, but also has response time 3 orders magnitude faster than detector. Besides, no micro-antenna/electrode required fabricate greatly simplifies design decreases fabrication cost. It concludes that room-temperature, full-bandwidth, fast-speed (≥10 kHz), easy-to-fabricate developed work superior comprehensive performances among both commercial detectors recently laboratory.