V. I. Gavrilenko

Room temperature tunable detection of subterahertz radiation by plasma waves in nanometer InGaAs transistors

The authors report on the demonstration of room temperature, tunable terahertz detection obtained by 50nm gate length AlGaAs∕InGaAs high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). They show that the physical mechanism of the detection is related to the plasma waves excited in the transistor channel and that the increasing of the drain current leads to the transformation of the broadband detection to the resonant and tunable one. They also show that the cap layer regions significantly affect the plasma oscillation spectrum in HEMTs by decreasing the resonant plasma frequencies.

Observation of three-dimensional massless Kane fermions in a zinc-blende crystal

Graphene and topological-insulator surfaces are well known for their two-dimensional conic electronic dispersion relation. Now three-dimensional hyperconic dispersion is shown for electrons in a HgCdTe crystal—once again bridging solid-state physics and quantum electrodynamics.M. Orlita, 2, ∗ D. M. Basko, M. S. Zholudev, 5 F. Teppe, W. Knap, V. I. Gavrilenko, N. N. Mikhailov, S. A. Dvoretskii, P. Neugebauer, C. Faugeras, A.-L. Barra, G. Martinez, and M. Potemski Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, CNRS-UJF-UPS-INSA, Grenoble, France Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ke Karlovu 5, 121 16 Praha 2, Czech Republic Université Grenoble 1/CNRS, LPMMC UMR 5493, B.P. 166, 38042 Grenoble, France Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), UMR CNRS 5221, GIS-TERALAB, Université Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier, France Institute for Physics of Microstructures, RAS, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 55, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

High-responsivity terahertz detection by on-chip InGaAs/GaAs field-effect-transistor array

Terahertz detection by a one-dimensional dense array of field-effect transistors (FETs) is studied experimentally. Such terahertz detector demonstrates greatly enhanced responsivity without using supplementary antenna elements because a short-period grating formed by metal contact fingers of densely ordered transistors in the array serves as an effective antenna coupling incident terahertz radiation to the transistor channels. Asymmetrical position of the gate contact in each FET in the array enables strong photovoltaic response.

Cyclotron resonance and interband optical transitions in HgTe/CdTe(0 1 3) quantum well heterostructures

Cyclotron resonance spectra of 2D electrons in HgTe/CdxHg1−xTe (0 1 3) quantum well (QW) heterostructures with inverted band structure have been thoroughly studied in quasiclassical magnetic fields versus the electron concentration varied using the persistent photoconductivity effect. The cyclotron mass is shown to increase with QW width in contrast to QWs with normal band structure. The measured values of cyclotron mass are shown to be systematically less than those calculated using the 8 × 8 Kane model with conventional set of HgTe and CdTe material parameters. In quantizing pulsed magnetic fields (Landau level filling factor less than unity) up to 45 T, both intraband (CR) and interband magnetoabsorption have been studied at radiation wavelengths 14.8 and 11.4 µm for the first time. The results obtained are compared with the allowed transition energies between Landau levels in the valence and conduction bands calculated within the same model, the calculated energies being again systematically less (by 3–14%) than the observed optical transition energies.

Study of lifetimes and photoconductivity relaxation in heterostructures with HgxCd1 − xTe/CdyHg1 − yTe quantum wells

Carrier lifetimes in the continuum of the quantum well of a HgxCd1 − xTe/CdyHg1 − yTe hetero-structure were studied by terahertz pump-probe spectroscopy. It is found that the relaxation duration of the transmission signal is ∼65 ps and is independent of the pump power. Such rapid relaxation in these structures is most likely determined by the interaction of holes with acoustic phonons due to a high density of states in the valence band and a larger effective mass compared with electrons. By the obtained data, the times of the interband nonradiative recombination of holes are determined. In this publication, we report the results of numerical calculation of the energy spectrum of the model structure, in which the possibility of obtaining population inversion at specified concentrations of nonequilibrium carriers is analyzed.

Efficient long wavelength interband photoluminescence from HgCdTe epitaxial films at wavelengths up to 26 μm

Photoluminescence (PL) and photoconductivity (PC) studies of Hg1−xCdxTe (0.19 ≤ x ≤ 0.23) epitaxial films are presented. Interband PL is observed at wavelengths from 26 to 6 μm and in the temperature range 18 K–200 K. The PL line full width at half maximum is about 6 meV (4kT) at 18 K and approaches its theoretical limit of 1.8kT at higher temperatures. Carrier recombination process is also investigated by time resolved studies of PL and PC at pulsed excitation. Radiative transitions are shown to be the dominating mechanism of carrier recombination at high excitation levels.

Cyclotron resonance in HgTe/CdTe-based heterostructures in high magnetic fields

AbstractCyclotron resonance study of HgTe/CdTe-based quantum wells with both inverted and normal band structures in quantizing magnetic fields was performed. In semimetallic HgTe quantum wells with inverted band structure, a hole cyclotron resonance line was observed for the first time. In the samples with normal band structure, interband transitions were observed with wide line width due to quantum well width fluctuations. In all samples, impurity-related magnetoabsorption lines were revealed. The obtained results were interpreted within the Kane 8·8 model, the valence band offset of CdTe and HgTe, and the Kane parameter EP being adjusted.

Spectra and kinetics of THz photoconductivity in narrow-gap Hg1?xCdxTe (x < 0.2) epitaxial films

Investigation into far infrared photoconductivity (PC) in narrow-gap epitaxial bulk Hg1–xCdxTe (x < 0.2) films grown by molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition techniques is presented. A broadband of photosensitivity in terahertz region is found at 4.2 and 77 K. Some long-wavelength peculiarities of spectra are discovered and their origins are discussed. We also study PC relaxation process with nanosecond time resolution. It is found that carrier relaxation is non-radiative and measured lifetimes show that some of the structures are applicable for detecting in very long-wavelength infrared range.

Experimental study of frequency multipliers based on a GaAs/AlAs semiconductor superlattices in the terahertz frequency range

Frequency multipliers based on a GaAs/AlAs semiconductor quantum superlattice have been experimentally studied. The power spectrum of the harmonics in the output signal from a multiplier with an input-signal frequency of 140–160 GHz has been measured. Planar diodes with a small active region (an area of 1–2 μm2) have been used in this study. For fabrication of the diodes, structures of heavily doped superlattices with the miniband width 24 meV have been used, these structures were grown by the molecular-beam epitaxy method. Measurements have been conducted using a BOMEM DA3.36 Fourier spectrometer equipped with a detector based on a bolometer cooled to the temperature of liquid helium. The results of the measurements have been used to plot the dependences of the power of the harmonics on the frequency in the range from 0.4 to 8.1 THz. It has been found that the character of the microwave-power distribution over the number of harmonics is close to the spectrum of a sequence of sign-alternating pulses which appear in the diode circuit when the applied voltage of the input signal exceeds the threshold of the diode. The minimal time of establishment of the pulse front and pulse duration are equal to 123 and 667 fs, respectively.

Impurity breakdown and terahertz luminescence in n-GaN epilayers under external electric field

We report on the observation and experimental studies of impurity breakdown and terahertz luminescence in n-GaN epilayers under external electric field. The terahertz electroluminescence is observed in a wide range of doping levels (at noncompensated donor density from 4.5×1016 to 3.4×1018 cm−3). Spectra of terahertz luminescence and photoconductivity are studied by means of Fourier transform spectrometry. Distinctive features of the spectra can be assigned to intracenter electron transitions between excited and ground states of silicon and oxygen donors and to hot electron transitions to the donor states.