Plasma Wave Electronics: A Revival Towards Solid-State Terahertz Electron Devices

Terahertz Plasma Wave Electronics

Modern microelectronics and nanoelectronics devices rely on the drift of electron localized at the interfaces between different materials, such silicon and silicon dioxide or gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide. Hence, the electron drift transit time in the active region of a device determines the maximum device speed. Instead of the electron drift, we propose to use the waves of the...

Millimetre-wave and Terahertz Electronics

Coherent broadband continuous-wave terahertz spectroscopy on solid-state samples

Measuring the complex dielectric function ε(ω)= ε1 + iε2 of solidstate samples in the terahertz frequency range with high spectral resolution remains difficult. Using a continuous-wave terahertz spectrometer based on photomixing in the frequency range from 60GHz to 1.8 THz, we obtain the most precise data of ε(ω) reported to date for the well-studied example of α-lactose monohydrate. We are abl...

Tunable solid-state terahertz-wave sources: New ideas and prospects

An idea to build a solid-state analog of vacuum travelling and backward wave tubes operating in the THz frequency range has long been discussed in the literature. Experiments directed to the realization of this idea using the radiative decay of grating-coupled two-dimensional (2D) plasmons in semiconductor heterostructures have been made since 1980, however the intensity of emitted radiation re...

A metamaterial solid-state terahertz phase modulator

Over the past two decades, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy1 and quantum-cascade lasers2 have been two of the most important developments in terahertz science and technology. These technologies may contribute to a multitude of terahertz applications that are currently under investigation globally3. However, the devices and components necessary to effectively manipulate terahertz radiation req...