Pavlo SAI1,2, Maxime DUB1,2, Grzegorz CYWINSKI1,2, Vadym KOROTYEYEV1,2,3, Wojciech KNAP1,2
1CENTERA-CEZAMAT Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
2Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
3V. Ye. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, NASU, Kyiv, Ukraine
We present the main ideas and recent achievements of Terahertz Plasmonics. We show that Plasmonic Nanostructures can be used as unique voltage-tunable Terahertz detectors, filters, and amplifiers and can pave the way toward microelectronic technology based on Terahertz Photonics. Special attention will be given to still unsolved problems of Terahertz optical amplifiers - that, if successfully realized, can lead to THz emitters/lasers.
The first demonstration of THz amplification by graphene nanostructures [1,2] raised many fundamental questions like: i) is the graphene really necessary ii) can one scale results obtained on sub-wavelength (µm scale) graphene flakes up to practical size (mm scale) devices. We present recent results on GaN/AlGaN-based plasmonic structures obtained in CENTERA-Warsaw, showing that in many aspects GaN-based structures mimic graphene nanostructures used in the first amplification experiments. The results allow us to identify the main challenges on the way towards realistic (practical size) plasmonic amplifiers of THz radiation [3,4].
Acknowledgments: Research Funded by the European Union (ERC ADVANCED PROJECT -TERAPLASM #101053716). The work was also supported by the “International Research Agendas” Projects CENTERA &CENTERA2 of the Foundation for Polish Science co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund (Grant No. MAB/2018/9 for CENTERA & FENG.02.01-IP.05-T004/23 for CENTERA2).
References
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