Phase-stable electromagnetic pulses in the THz frequency range offer several unique capabilities in time-resolved spectroscopy. However, the diversity of their application is limited by the covered spectral bandwidth. In particular, the upper frequen
cy limit of photoconductive emitters - the most widespread technique in THz spectroscopy - reaches only up to 7 THz in regular transmission mode due to the absorption by infrared-active optical phonons. Here, we present ultra-broadband (extending up to 70 THz) THz emission from Au implanted Ge emitter which is compatible with a fibre laser operating at 1.1 and 1.55 {mu}m wavelengths at a repetition rates of 10 and 20 MHz, respectively. This opens a perspective for the development of compact THz photonic devices operating up to multi-THz frequencies and compatible with Si CMOS technology.
We present a joint theory-experiment study on the transmission/absorption saturation after ultrafast pulse excitation in graphene. We reveal an unconventional double-bended saturation behavior: Both bendings separately follow the standard saturation
model exhibiting two saturation fluences, however, the corresponding fluences differ by three orders of magnitude and have different physical origin. Our results reveal that this new and unexpected behavior can be ascribed to an interplay between fluence- and time-dependent many-particle scattering processes and phase-space filling effects.
Sub-wavelength graphene structures support localized plasmonic resonances in the terahertz and mid-infrared spectral regimes. The strong field confinement at the resonant frequency is predicted to significantly enhance the light-graphene interaction,
which could enable nonlinear optics at low intensity in atomically thin, sub-wavelength devices. To date, the nonlinear response of graphene plasmons and their energy loss dynamics have not been experimentally studied. We measure and theoretically model the terahertz nonlinear response and energy relaxation dynamics of plasmons in graphene nanoribbons. We employ a THz pump-THz probe technique at the plasmon frequency and observe a strong saturation of plasmon absorption followed by a 10 ps relaxation time. The observed nonlinearity is enhanced by two orders of magnitude compared to unpatterned graphene with no plasmon resonance. We further present a thermal model for the nonlinear plasmonic absorption that supports the experimental results.
We present an ultrafast graphene-based detector, working in the THz range at room temperature. A logarithmic-periodic antenna is coupled to a graphene flake that is produced by exfoliation on SiO2. The detector was characterized with the free-electro
n laser FELBE for wavelengths from 8 um to 220 um. The detector rise time is 50 ps in the wavelength range from 30 um to 220 um. Autocorrelation measurements exploiting the nonlinear photocurrent response at high intensities reveal an intrinsic response time below 10 ps. This detector has a high potential for characterizing temporal overlaps, e. g. in two-color pump-probe experiments.
We study the carrier dynamics in epitaxially grown graphene in the range of photon energies from 10 - 250 meV. The experiments complemented by microscopic modeling reveal that the carrier relaxation is significantly slowed down as the photon energy i
s tuned to values below the optical phonon frequency, however, owing to the presence of hot carriers, optical phonon emission is still the predominant relaxation process. For photon energies about twice the value of the Fermi energy, a transition from pump-induced transmission to pump-induced absorption occurs due to the interplay of interband and intraband processes.
