Time-resolved ultrafast photocurrents and terahertz generation in freely suspended graphene

Nat Commun. 2012 Jan 31:3:646. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1656.

Abstract

Graphene, a two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms, is a promising building block for a wide range of optoelectronic devices owing to its extraordinary electrical and optical properties, including the ability to absorb ~2% of incident light over a broad wavelength range. While the RC-limited bandwidth of graphene-based photodetectors can be estimated to be as large as 640 GHz, conventional electronic measurement techniques lack for analysing photocurrents at such frequencies. Here we report on time-resolved picosecond photocurrents in freely suspended graphene contacted by metal electrodes. At the graphene-metal interface, we demonstrate that built-in electric fields give rise to a photocurrent with a full-width-half-maximum of ~4 ps and that a photothermoelectric effect generates a current with a decay time of ~130 ps. Furthermore, we show that, in optically pumped graphene, electromagnetic radiation up to 1 THz is generated. Our results may prove essential to build graphene-based ultrafast photodetectors, photovoltaic cells and terahertz sources.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carbon / chemistry
  • Electrodes
  • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Graphite / chemistry*
  • Lasers
  • Light
  • Metals / chemistry
  • Nanotechnology / methods
  • Optics and Photonics / methods
  • Oscillometry / methods
  • Photochemistry / methods
  • Temperature
  • Terahertz Spectroscopy / methods
  • Thermodynamics
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Metals
  • Carbon
  • Graphite