Optimization of photoconducting receivers for THz spectroscopy.
We have studied the sensitivity and noise of optically gated dipole receivers made from ion implanted Si and GaAs in an optimized time domain THz spectrometer. The spectrometer uses a room temperature, dc biased, semi-insulating GaAs stripline source capable of generating up to 30 microW average power. The 10% amplitude system bandwidth for 10 microm (50 microm) dipole receivers is 3 THz (1.5 THz). A dynamic range of 4 x 10(5) Hz(-1/2) is achieved using a 10 microm dipole GaAs receiver and 2 x 10(6) Hz(-1/2) using a 50 microm dipole for a total laser power of 110 mW and THz beam power of 20 microW. The dynamic range achieved with comparable silicon receivers is a factor of 2 smaller.
Andrews
S R
SR
Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. s.r.andrews@bath.ac.uk
Armitage
A
A
Huggard
P G
PG
Hussain
A
A
D004553:Electric Conductivity; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D007834:Lasers; D008872:Microwaves; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011786:Quality Control; D012666:Semiconductors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D014159:Transducers