Fast graphene-based hot-electron bolometer covering the spectral range from terahertz to visible


Fast graphene-based hot-electron bolometer covering the spectral range from terahertz to visible

Mittendorff, M.; Kamann, J.; Eroms, J.; Weiss, D.; Drexler, C.; Ganichev, S. D.; Kerbusch, J.; Erbe, A.; Suess, R. J.; Murphy, T. E.; Chatterjee, S.; Kolata, K.; Ohser, J.; König-Otto, J. C.; Schneider, H.; Helm, M.; Winnerl, S.

By using broadband absorber materials, bolometric detectors can typically cover an extremely large spectral range. However, since their response relies on the lattice temperature of the employed material, they exhibit slow response times. Hot electron bolometers (HEBs), on the other hand, can be extremely fast, because they exploit a change in device resistance caused by a varying electron temperature. A major drawback of HEBs based on superconductors is the required cooling to very low temperatures. We have developed a detector for room temperature operation, where the broadband absorption of the gapless material graphene is utilized. To this end, a graphene flake grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is transferred to a SiC substrate and coupled to a logarithmic periodic antenna. Fast detection with a rise time of 40 ps is demonstrated for frequencies ranging from 0.6 THz to 390 THz [1]. Interestingly, the detector properties do not deteriorate for wavelength within the Reststrahlen band of SiC (25 – 50 THz). With a noise-equivalent power of 20 µW/Hz½ (800 µW/Hz½) in the near infrared (mid- and far infrared) the detector is capable of recording pulses with energies of the order of 10 pJ (1 nJ). We show that the detector is a versatile device for timing measurements in multi-color ultrafast spectroscopy studies.

Keywords: Detector; graphene; fast detctor; broadband detector

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  • Lecture (Conference)
    7th international workshop on terahertz technology and applications, 15.-16.03.2016, Kaiserslautern, Deutschland

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-23447
Publ.-Id: 23447