We propose and evaluate the vertical cascade terahertz and infrared photodetectors based on multiple-graphene-layer (GL) structures with thin tunnel barrier layers (made of tungsten disulfide or related materials). The photodetector operation is asso
ciated with the cascaded radiative electron transitions from the valence band in GLs to the conduction band in the neighboring GLs (interband- and inter-GL transitions). We calculate the spectral dependences of the responsivity and detectivity for the vertical cascade interband GL- photodetectors (I-GLPDs) with different number of GLs and doping levels at different bias voltages in a wide temperature range. We show the possibility of an effective manipulation of the spectral characteristics by the applied voltage. The spectral characteristics depend also on the GL doping level that opens up the prospects of using I-GLPDs in the multi-color systems. The advantages of I-GLPDs under consideration are associated with their sensitivity to the normal incident radiation, weak temperature dependence of the dark current as well as high speed of operation. The comparison of the proposed I-GLDs with the quantum-well intersubband photodectors demonstrates the superiority of the former, including a better detectivity at room temperature and a higher speed. The vertical cascade I-GLDs can also surpass the lateral p-i-n GLDs in speed.
We propose and analyze the concept of the vertical hot-electron terahertz (THz) graphene-layer detectors (GLDs) based on the double-GL and multiple-GL structures with the barrier layers made of materials with a moderate conduction band off-set (such
as tungsten disulfide and related materials). The operation of these detectors is enabled by the thermionic emissions from the GLs enhanced by the electrons heated by incoming THz radiation. The electron heating is primarily associated with the intraband absorption (the Drude absorption). We calculate the responsivity and detectivity as functions of the photon energy, GL doping, and the applied voltage for the GL detectors (GLDs) with different number of GLs. The detectors based on the cascade multiple-GL structures can exhibit a substantial photoelectric gain resulting in the elevated responsivity and detectivity. The advantages of the THz detectors under consideration are associated with their high sensitivity to the normal incident radiation and efficient operation at room temperature at the low end of the THz frequency range. Such GLDs with a metal grating, supporting the excitation of plasma oscillations in the GL-structures by the incident THz radiation, can exhibit a strong resonant response at the frequencies of several THz (in the range, where the operation of the conventional detectors based on A$_3$B$_5$ materials, in particular THz quantum-well detectors, is hindered due to a strong optical phonon radiation absorption in such materials).
Mechanism of transient population inversion in graphene with multi-splitted (interdigitated) top-gate and grounded back gate is suggested and examined for the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region. Efficient stimulated emission after fast lateral spr
eading of carriers due to drift-diffusion processes is found for the case of a slow electron-hole recombination in the passive region. We show that with the large gate-to-graphene distance the drift process always precedes the diffusion process, due to the ineffective screening of the inplane electric field by the gates. Conditions for lasing with a gain above 100 cm$^{-1}$ are found for cases of single- and multi-layer graphene placed in the waveguide formed by the top and back gates. Both the waveguide losses and temperature effects are analyzed.
We study the dynamic effects in the double graphene-layer (GL) structures with the resonant-tunneling (RT) and the negative differential inter-GL conductivity. Using the developed model, which accounts for the excitation of self-consistent oscillatio
ns of the electron and hole densities and the ac electric field between GLs (plasma oscillations), we calculate the admittance of the double-GL RT structures as a function of the signal frequency and applied voltages, and the spectrum and increment/decrement of plasma oscillations. Our results show that the electron-hole plasma in the double-GL RT structures with realistic parameters is stable with respect to the self-excitation of plasma oscillations and aperiodic perturbations. The stability of the electron-hole plasma at the bias voltages corresponding to the inter-GL RT and strong nonlinearity of the RT current-voltage characteristics enable using the double-GL RT structures for detection of teraherz (THz) radiation. The excitation of plasma oscillations by the incoming THz radiation can result in a sharp resonant dependence of detector responsivity on radiation frequency and the bias voltage. Due to a strong nonlinearity of the current-voltage characteristics of the double-GL structures at RT and the resonant excitation of plasma oscillations, the maximum responsivity, $R_V^{max}$, can markedly exceed the values $(10^4 - 10^5)$~V/W at room temperature.
