Six-wave mixing phase-dispersion by optical heterodyne detection in dressed reverse N-type four-level system

We have investigated the dressed effects of non-degenerate four-wave mixing (NDFWM) and demonstrated a phase-sensitive method of studying the fifth-order nonlinear susceptibility due to atomic coherence in RN-type four-level system. In the presence of a strong coupling field, NDFWM spectrum exhibits Autler-Townes splitting, accompanied by either suppression or enhancement of the NDFWM signal, which is directly related to the competition between the absorption and dispersion contributions. The heterodyne-detected nonlinear absorption and dispersion of six-wave mixing signal in the RN-type system show that the hybrid radiation-matter detuning damping oscillation is in the THz range and can be controlled and modified through the colour-locked correlation of twin noisy fields.

Coherent laser control in attosecond sum-frequency polarization beats using twin noisy driving fields

Based on the phase-conjugate polarization interference between two-pathway excitations, we obtained an analytic closed form for the second-order or fourth-order Markovian stochastic correlation of the V three-level sum-frequency polarization beat (SFPB) in attosecond scale. Novel interferometric oscillatory behavior is exposed in terms of radiation-radiation, radiation-matter, and matter-matter polarization beats. The phase-coherent control of the light beams in the SFPB is subtle. When the laser has broadband linewidth, the homodyne detected SFPB signal shows resonant-nonresonant cross correlation, a drastic difference for three Markovian stochastic fields, and the autocorrelation of the SFPB exhibits hybrid radiation-matter detuning terahertz damping oscillation. As an attosecond ultrafast modulation process, it can be extended intrinsically to any sum frequency of energy levels. It has been also found that the asymmetric behaviors of the polarization beat signals due to the unbalanced controllable dispersion effects between the two arms of interferometer do not affect the overall accuracy in case using the SFPB to measure the Doppler-free energy-level sum of two excited states.

Franz-Keldysh effect and dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect of cylindrical quantum wires

We investigate the interband optical absorption spectra near the band edge of a cylindrical semiconductor quantum wire in the presence of a static electric field and a terahertz electric field polarized along the axis. Optical absorption spectra are nonperturbatively calculated by solving the low-density semiconductor Bloch equations in real space and real time. The influence of the Franz-Keldysh (FK) effect and dynamical FK effect on the absorption spectrum is investigated. To highlight the physics behind the FK effect and dynamical FK effect, the spatiotemporal dynamics of the polarization wave packet are also presented. Under a reasonable static electric field, substantial and tunable absorption oscillations appear above the band gap. A terahertz field, however, will cause the Autler-Townes splitting of the main exciton peak and the emergence of multiphoton replicas. The presented results suggest that semiconductor quantum wires have potential applications in electro-optical devices.

1-Gb/s zero-pole cancellation CMOS transimpedance amplifier for Gigabit Ethernet applications

A zero-pole cancellation transimpedance amplifier (TIA) has been realized in 0.35 μm RF CMOS tech nology for Gigabit Ethernet applications. The TIA exploits a zero-pole cancellation configuration to isolate the input parasitic capacitance including photodiode capacitance from bandwidth deterioration. Simulation results show that the proposed TIA has a bandwidth of 1.9 GHz and a transimpedance gain of 65 dB·Ω for 1.5 pF photodiode capaci tance, with a gain-bandwidth product of 3.4 THz·Ω. Even with 2 pF photodiode capacitance, the bandwidth exhibits a decline of only 300 MHz, confirming the mechanism of the zero-pole cancellation configuration. The input resis tance is 50 Ω, and the average input noise current spectral density is 9.7 pA/(Hz)~(1/2). Testing results shows that the eye diagram at 1 Gb/s is wide open. The chip dissipates 17 mW under a single 3.3 V supply.

小孔径蝴蝶型光电导天线太赫兹辐射源的研究

研究了5种小孔径光电导天线的太赫兹发射特性,并且对它们所发射的太赫兹波进行了对比,为研制高效率的太赫兹波发射源提供了参考依据。利用太赫兹时域光谱技术测量了光电导天线发射的太赫兹(THz)脉冲,得到了时域发射光谱,并通过快速傅里叶变换得到相应的频域光谱。结果表明,太赫兹信号强度随偏置电压的增大而增强;随着泵浦激光功率的增大而增强并出现饱和现象。偏置电压与泵浦激光功率相同时,我们对比5种光电导天线产生的太赫兹信号,从中找到了一种发射效率较高的小孔径光电导天线,并且研究了电极形状、电极间距对光电导天线发射效率的影响。

低温生长砷化镓光电导天线产生太赫兹波的辐射特性

研究了低温生长砷化镓光电导天线(LT-GaAs PCA)产生太赫兹(THz)波的辐射特性。利用太赫兹时域光谱(TDS)技术测量了光电导发射极在飞秒激光作用下辐射的太赫兹脉冲,得到了时域发射光谱,并通过快速傅里叶变换(FFT)得到相应的频域光谱。结果表明,低温砷化镓光电导天线产生的太赫兹波信号比飞秒激光激发半导体表面产生的太赫兹波信号具有更高的强度和信噪比;太赫兹波信号与光电导天线的偏置电压成线性关系;随着抽运激光功率的增强,太赫兹波信号增大并出现饱和。

微纳加工技术在光电子领域的应用

纳米光电子器件正在成为下一代光电子器件的核心。文章介绍了电子束光刻和电感耦合等离子体刻蚀为代表的徽纳加工技术在光电子学器件中的应用。主要包括量子点激光器、量子点THz探测器和光子晶体器件。

SiGe/Si quantum well resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetector

Resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors have been demonstrated to be able to improve the bandwidth-efficiency product. We report a novel SiGe/Si multiple quantum-well resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetector fabricated on a separation-by-implanted-oxygen wafer operating near 1300nm. The buried oxide layer in SIMOX is used as a bottom mirror to form a vertical cavity with silicon dioxide/silicon Bragg reflector deposited on the top surface. The quantum efficiency at the wavelength of 1300nm is measured with 3.5% at a reverse bias of 15V, which is enhanced by 10 folds compared with a conventional photodetector with the same absorption structures.

Symmetry-breaking and chaos in electron transport in semiconductor superlattices

We study the motion of electrons in a single miniband of a semiconductor superlattice driven by THz electric field polarized along the growth direction. We work in the semiclassical balance-equation model, including different elastic and inelastic scattering rates, and incorporating the self-consistent electric field generated by electron motion. We explore regions of complex dynamics, which can include chaotic behaviour and symmetry-breaking. We estimate the magnitudes of dc current and dc voltage that spontaneously appear in regions of broken-symmetry for parameters characteristic of modern semiconductor superlattices. This work complements PRL 80(1998)2669 [ cond-mat/9709026 ].

Dissipative Chaos in Semiconductor Superlattices

We consider the motion of ballistic electrons in a miniband of a semiconductor superlattice (SSL) under the influence of an external, time-periodic electric field. We use the semi-classical balance-equation approach which incorporates elastic and inelastic scattering (as dissipation) and the self-consistent field generated by the electron motion. The coupling of electrons in the miniband to the self-consistent field produces a cooperative nonlinear oscillatory mode which, when interacting with the oscillatory external field and the intrinsic Bloch-type oscillatory mode, can lead to complicated dynamics, including dissipative chaos. For a range of values of the dissipation parameters we determine the regions in the amplitude-frequency plane of the external field in which chaos can occur. Our results suggest that for terahertz external fields of the amplitudes achieved by present-day free electron lasers, chaos may be observable in SSLs. We clarify the nature of this novel nonlinear dynamics in the superlattice-external field system by exploring analogies to the Dicke model of an ensemble of two-level atoms coupled with a resonant cavity field and to Josephson junctions.

Designed ultrafast optical nonlinearity in a plasmonic nanorod metamaterial enhanced by nonlocality

All-optical signal processing enables modulation and transmission speeds not achievable using electronics alone(1,2). However, its practical applications are limited by the inherently weak nonlinear effects that govern photon-photon interactions in conventional materials, particularly at high switching rates(3). Here, we show that the recently discovered nonlocal optical behaviour of plasmonic nanorod metamaterials(4) enables an enhanced, ultrafast, nonlinear optical response. We observe a large (80%) change of transmission through a subwavelength thick slab of metamaterial subjected to a low control light fluence of 7 mJ cm(-2), with switching frequencies in the terahertz range. We show that both the response time and the nonlinearity can be engineered by appropriate design of the metamaterial nanostructure. The use of nonlocality to enhance the nonlinear optical response of metamaterials, demonstrated here in plasmonic nanorod composites, could lead to ultrafast, low-power all-optical information processing in subwavelength-scale devices.

Phenomenology and system engineering of micro- and nano-antenna FPA sensors for detection of concealed weapons and improvised explosive devices

The ability of millimetre wave and terahertz systems to penetrate clothing is well known. The fact that the transmission of clothing and the reflectivity of the body vary as a function of frequency is less so. Several instruments have now been developed to exploit this capability. The choice of operating frequency, however, has often been associated with the maturity and the cost of the enabling technology rather than a sound systems engineering approach. Top level user and systems requirements have been derived to inform the development of design concepts. Emerging micro and nano technology concepts have been reviewed and we have demonstrated how these can be evaluated against these requirements by simulation using OpenFx. Openfx is an open source suite of 3D tools for modeling, animation and visualization which has been modified for use at millimeter waves. © 2012 SPIE.