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Optically- and Electrically-Stimulated Terahertz Radiation Emission from Indium Nitride

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Abstract

Indium nitride is a novel narrow band gap semiconductor. The material is a potential strong source of terahertz frequency electromagnetic radiation with applications in time-domain terahertz spectroscopy and imaging systems. This article reviews recent experimental research on terahertz emission from the binary compound semiconductor indium nitride excited by near-infrared laser beams or microseconds electrical pulses. Advantages of indium nitride as terahertz radiation source material are discussed. It is demonstrated that different mechanisms contribute to the emission of terahertz radiation from indium nitride. The emission of up to 2.4 μW of THz radiation power is observed when InN is excited with near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses at an average power of 1 W.

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Acknowledgments

For the work reviewed in the article the authors acknowledge financial support through the National Science Foundation, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, ARL-Lehigh Cooperative Agreement, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, and the Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Furthermore, T. V. Shubina thanks N.A. Gippius for many helpful discussions, V.A. Shalygin and A.V. Andrianov for the THz measurements at electrical pumping.

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  1. Department of Physics, Applied Physics & Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

    Ingrid Wilke

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Lehigh University, 19 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA

    Yujie J. Ding

  3. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 26 Polytekhnicheskaya, St. Petersburg, 194021, Russia

    Tatiana V. Shubina

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Wilke, I., Ding, Y.J. & Shubina, T.V. Optically- and Electrically-Stimulated Terahertz Radiation Emission from Indium Nitride. J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves 33, 559–592 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-012-9904-z

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