High-power narrow-band terahertz generation using large-aperture photoconductors

Large-aperture biased photoconductive emitters which can generate high-power narrow-band terahertz (THz) radiation are developed. These emitters avoid saturation at high fluence excitation and achieve enhanced peak power spectral density by employing a thick layer of short-lifetime low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) photoconductor and multiple-pulse excitation. THz waveforms are calculated from the saturation theory of large aperture photoconductors, and a comparison is made between theory and measurement. A direct comparison of the multiple-pulse saturation properties of THz emission from semi-insulating GaAs and LT GaAs emitters reveals a strong dependence on the carrier lifetime. In particular, the data demonstrate that saturation is avoided only when the interpulse spacing is longer than the carrier lifetime.