Bright MM-Wave and THz Luminescence by Down-Conversion of Near-IR Amplified-Spontaneous-Emission

E. R. Brown, J. E. Bjarnason, T. L.J. Wilkinson, D. C. Driscoll, M. Hanson, A. C. Gossard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report the measurement of exceptionally bright, incoherent radiation in the THz region by frequency down-conversion of amplified spontaneous emission around 775-nm wavelength. The down-conversion technique is optical mixing in an interdigital photoconductive capacitor made from ultra fast ErAs:GaAs. The brightness temperature into a single spatial mode is approximately 1.1×10 5 K, making the new radiation at least 70 times more intense than common incandescent sources in the THz region.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1691-1702
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves
Volume26
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2005
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Radiation
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Instrumentation
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • Brightness temperature
  • Infrared spontaneous emission
  • Photomixing
  • Terahertz radiation

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