Recent research progress on graphene-based terahertz detectors: A review

Terahertz radiation combines material penetration with molecular spectral characteristics, showing revolutionary application potential in fields such as security screening, industrial inspection, and medical diagnostics. Current detectors face limitations in sensitivity, response speed, and bandwidth at room temperature. Graphene provides breakthrough solutions for detector performance enhancement through novel physical mechanisms. This review introduces graphene terahertz detectors with different mechanisms, including photovoltaic, photothermoelectric, plasma wave rectification, photoconductive, and bolometric effects. It provides a detailed discussion on the dominance of photovoltaic and photothermoelectric effects in detectors, the advantages of photothermoelectric effects in graphene room-temperature terahertz detectors, and also discusses the realization and breakthroughs of plasma wave room-temperature resonance. Future development will focus on three key pathways: bandstructure engineering, multi-mechanism synergy, and scalable manufacturing techniques, which are expected to drive full commercialization and revolutionize multiple industries within the coming decade.