Fast Modulation of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers Using Graphene Loaded Plasmonic Antennas
Authors
Jessop, David S
Sol, Christian WO
Xiao, Long
Kindness, Stephen
Lin, Hungyen
Ren, Yuan
Kamboj, Varun
Griffiths, Jonathan P
Publication Date
2016-02-23Journal Title
ACS Photonics
ISSN
2330-4022
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Volume
3
Pages
464-470
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Degl'Innocenti, R., Jessop, D. S., Sol, C. W., Xiao, L., Kindness, S., Lin, H., Zeitler, A., et al. (2016). Fast Modulation of Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers Using Graphene Loaded Plasmonic Antennas. ACS Photonics, 3 464-470. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5b00672
Abstract
We report the fast amplitude modulation of a quantum cascade laser emitting in single-mode operation in the terahertz frequency range by employing compact, integrated devices based on the interplay between plasmonic antenna arrays and monolayer graphene. By acting on the carrier concentration of graphene, the optical response of these plasmonic resonances was modified. The modulator’s characteristics have been studied by using both time domain spectroscopic laser systems, yielding the broad frequency response of these resonant arrays, and quantum cascade lasers, providing us with a narrow and stable laser source, a mandatory prerequisite for the determination of the modulation speed of these devices. The measured modulation speed exhibits a cutoff frequency of 5.5 MHz ± 1.1 MHz. These results represent the first step toward the realization of fast integrated circuitry for communications in the terahertz frequency range.
Keywords
terahertz optical modulator, graphene, plasmonic antennas, quantum cascade lasers
Sponsorship
RD, YR and HEB acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant No. EP/J017671/1, Coherent Terahertz Systems). HL and JAZ would like to acknowledge the financial support from UK EPSRC Research Grant EP/L019922/1.
Funder references
EPSRC (EP/L019922/1)
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON (FB EPSRC) (EP/J017671/1)
EPSRC (EP/K016636/1)
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5b00672
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/254052
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International