Single-walled carbon nanotubes as base material for THz photoconductive switching: a theoretical study from input power to output THz emission

Opt Express. 2011 Aug 1;19(16):15077-89. doi: 10.1364/OE.19.015077.

Abstract

This paper studies the relation between photoexcitation of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) based device, and its THz output power in the context of THz photoconductive (PC) switching and THz photomixing. A detailed approach of calculating output THz power for such a device describes the effect of each parameter on the performance of the THz PC switch and highlights the design dependent achievable limits. A numerical assessment, with typical values for each parameter, shows that-subject to thermal stability of the device-SWNT based PC switch can improve the output power by almost two orders of magnitudes compared to conventional materials such as LT-GaAs.

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / chemistry
  • Equipment Design
  • Hot Temperature
  • Light
  • Materials Testing
  • Models, Statistical
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Optics and Photonics
  • Semiconductors
  • Terahertz Spectroscopy / methods
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Carbon