Broadband terahertz ultrasonic transducer based on a laser-driven piezoelectric semiconductor superlattice

A A Maznev; Kara J Manke; Kung-Hsuan Lin; Keith A Nelson; Chi-Kuang Sun; Jen-Inn Chyi

doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2011.07.007

Broadband terahertz ultrasonic transducer based on a laser-driven piezoelectric semiconductor superlattice

Ultrasonics. 2012 Jan;52(1):1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ultras.2011.07.007. Epub 2011 Aug 6.

Authors

A A Maznev¹, Kara J Manke, Kung-Hsuan Lin, Keith A Nelson, Chi-Kuang Sun, Jen-Inn Chyi

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. alexei.maznev@gmail.com

PMID: 21872899
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2011.07.007

Abstract

Spectral characteristics of laser-generated acoustic waves in an InGaN/GaN superlattice structure are studied at room temperature. Acoustic vibrations in the structure are excited with a femtosecond laser pulse and detected via transmission of a delayed probe pulse. Seven acoustic modes of the superlattice are detected, with frequencies spanning a range from 0.36 to 2.5THz. Acoustic waves up to ∼2THz in frequency are not significantly attenuated within the transducer which indicates excellent interface quality of the superlattice. The findings hold promise for broadband THz acoustic spectroscopy.