Generation and Detection of Broadband

Pulsed Terahertz Radiation

Shunsuke Kono1,2 , Masahiko Tani1,3 , and Kiyomi Sakai1

1
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
588-2 Iwaoka, Nihis-ku, Kobe 651-2492, Japan
2
Present address: Fundamental and Environmental Research Laboratories
NEC Corporation
34 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba 305-8501, Japan
s-kouno@[Link]
3
Institute of Laser Engineering
Osaka University
2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

Abstract. The generation and detection of ultrashort electromagnetic radiation is

reviewed. The detection of ultrashort electromagnetic pulses with the electro-optic
sampling techniques is introduced by insisting on its broad detectable bandwidth.
The principles and experimental techniques for the optical rectification effect are
described for the broadband generation of pulsed terahertz radiation. In addition
to these techniques using nonlinear optical effects, the recent findings on the photo-
conductive antennas enabling detection and generation of ultra-broadband pulsed
terahertz radiation are described.

1 Ultra-Broadband Terahertz Radiations

with Nonlinear Crystals
One of the research directions in terahertz (THz) optoelectronics is to expand
the bandwidth of the coherent generation and detection of the THz radia-
tion. As already mentioned in Sect. 2.3.1 and Sect. 3.2 in the Chapter by
Sakai and Tani, the second-order nonlinear effects like optical rectification
and electro-optic (EO) effect have attracted considerable attention for broad-
band generation and detection of the THz pulses due to its instantaneous
response derived from the nonresonant nature of the probe and pump beam.
In Sect. 1.1, the developments on the broadband EO sampling technique are
introduced including the basic principles of the EO sampling technique. The
optical rectification effect for ultra-broadband generation of THz pulse will
be discussed in Sect. 1.2.

1.1 Ultra-Broadband Detection of Terahertz Pulses

with Electro-Optic Crystals: Principles

The EO sampling is a phase-sensitive detection of electromagnetic (EM) ra-

diation based on a birefringence in an EO crystal induced by the incident

K. Sakai (Ed.): Terahertz Optoelectronics, Topics Appl. Phys. 97, 31–64 (2005)
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005
32 Shunsuke Kono et al.

EM radiation (Fig. 11 in the Chapter by Sakai and Tani). This birefrin-

gence in the crystal is probed as a phase shift of an optical probe beam. In
the time-resolved detection of the THz pulse, the transient birefringence is
probed with the optical pulses at different time delays.
Contrary to the photoconductive (PC) antenna, the probe beam is non-
resonant to the electronic excitation in the EO crystal. Therefore, the bire-
fringence induced by the incident THz pulses can be instantaneously sensed
by the probe beam. Due to this nonresonant feature, the EO sampling tech-
nique has been expected for the phase-sensitive detection of radiation in the
frequency range higher than 5 THz. Actually, the EO sampling technique is
commonly used for the phase-sensitive detection of radiation due to its easy
experimental preparation and broad detectable bandwidth.
The phase retardation induced in the EO crystal is given by the following
equation [1]
2π 3
∆Γ = dnopt r41 ETHz , (1)
λ
where d is the EO crystal thickness, nopt is the group refractive index of the
EO crystal at the wavelength of the near-infrared (NIR) probe beam, and r41
is the EO coefficient. In an actual estimation of the phase retardation, it is
necessary to consider the Fresnel transmission coefficient on the EO crystal
surface. However, we include this coefficient in the frequency dependence due
to the phase-matching condition explained later. The EO effect is common
to many kinds of crystals without inversion symmetry. Among such crystals,
ZnTe or GaP is commonly used for the EO sampling of the THz pulse be-
cause these crystals have large EO coefficients and they are transparent at
the wavelength of the incident THz radiation and at that of a mode-locked
Ti:sapphire laser as a gating probe beam.

1.1.1 Frequency Response of Electro-Optic Sampling

To study the frequency response of the EO sampling technique, we have to
consider the group velocity dispersion of the probe beam and refractive index
dispersion at the frequency of the incident THz radiation in the EO crystal.
The optical pulse of the probe beam and incident THz beam propagate on
the same axis inside the EO crystal, however, due to the difference in the
respective dispersions, the mismatch of the group velocity accumulates after
the propagation of the two waves through the crystal whose thickness is d.
The time difference due to the group velocity mismatch is described by the
following equation [2]:
ng (λ0 ) − n (ω)
δ (ω) = d, (2)
c
where ng (λ0 ) is the group refractive index at the wavelength of the probe
beam, n(ω) the refractive index at the frequency of the incident THz radia-
tion.
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 33

The phase difference in the probe beam is proportional to the crystal

thickness as described by ∆Γ in (1). At the same time, due to the different
propagation time of the probe pulse and incident THz radiation, the phase
difference is also proportional to the time average of the electric field during
the group-velocity mismatch time, δ(ω). The factor of this time average is
expressed by


T (ω) δ(ω)
exp [i2πωδ (ω)] − 1
G (ω) = exp (i2πωt) dt = T (ω) . (3)
δ (ω) 0 i2πωδ (ω)

Here, T (ω) = 2/[nTHz (ω) + 1], is the Fresnel transmission coefficient with
the refractive index of the EO crystal nTHz (ω) in the range of the target THz
frequency. The total frequency response of the EO sampling technique is given
by the product of (1) and (3). Although the frequency dependence of (1) is
not explicitly described, in a precise estimation of the frequency response, it is
necessary to consider the frequency dependences of the respective components
in the equation. As already mentioned in Sect. 3.2 of the Chapter by Sakai
and Tani, there is a tradeoff between the crystal thickness and modulation in
the EO crystal. The phase modulation is proportional to the crystal thickness,
while G(ω) is significantly dependent on the crystal thickness.
Despite this tradeoff between the crystal thickness and sensitivity, the EO
sampling technique was a unique solution for the phase-sensitive detection
of THz radiation in the frequency range above 10 THz. Intensive researches
have been made on the development of the broadband EO detection.

1.1.2 Some Experimental Examples on Broadband Electro-Optic

Detection

The first experimental demonstration of the EO sampling technique beyond

the detectable bandwidth of the PC antenna was done by Wu and Zhang [2].
Using (110) surface GaP crystals, they resolved the THz radiation up to
7 THz. The pulse width of the probe beam was 50 fs.
The detectable bandwidth of the EO sampling technique was much broad-
ened by the same group. Wu and Zhang demonstrated the EO detection of
the THz radiation up to 37 THz. Their light source for pump and probe ex-
periments was a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser delivering 12 fs light pulses.
Figure 1 shows the waveform of the THz pulse from GaAs detected with the
30 µm thick ZnTe crystal [3]. The shortest period was estimated to be 31 fs.
The Fourier-transformed spectrum of this detected waveform for a longer
scan is shown in Fig. 2. The frequency distribution extends to 37 THz.
Later, Leitenstorfer et al. [4] further developed the broadband EO sam-
pling technique for the investigation on the carrier transport in semiconduc-
tors. The EO sampling technique enabled direct detection of the phase and
amplitude of the infrared (IR) radiation emitted by the accelerating carri-
ers in semiconductors. Exciting the carriers in the semiconductors with 12 fs
34 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 1. Waveform of the THz

pulse from GaAs surface de-
tected with 30 µm thick ZnTe
crystal [3]

Fig. 2. Fourier-transformed
spectra of the THz signal
waveform EO-detected with
30 µm thick ZnTe crystal [3]

optical pulses, the IR radiation by the accelerating carriers and interaction

of the carriers with the lattice vibration was detected in the time scale of
10 fs. The waveform of the EO signal is shown in Fig. 3. The radiation due to
the acceleration of the carriers was clearly detected. Furthermore, under high
electric fields, the interaction of the carriers with the lattice vibration (LO
phonon) was clearly manifested as the oscillations in the emitted radiation.
For this measurement, they prepared thin EO crystals of ZnTe and GaP,
8 µm thick and 13 µm thick, respectively. They investigated in detail the fre-
quency response of the EO sampling technique. The frequency dependence
of the refractive index, n(ω), in the EO crystal and that of the EO coefficient
r41 (ω) were carefully evaluated. Figure 4 shows their estimation of G(ω) and
r41 (ω). At the shot-noise limit of the differential detection of the probe beam,
−1/2
estimated to be ∆I/I ≈ 10−8 Hz , the spectral bandwidth was estimated
to be close to 70 THz.
In addition to the broadband EO sampling technique, broadband coher-
ent radiation sources have also been developed. The combination of the EO
sampling technique and broadband optical rectification provides a fully co-
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 35

Fig. 3. EO-detected signal waveforms and Fourier-transformed spectra of the THz

radiation generated from the accelerating carriers in the biased semiconductors [4]

Fig. 4. Frequency dependences of G(ω) (a) and EO coefficient r41 (ω) (b) of the
13 µm thick GaP crystal [4]

herent generation and detection system of the far- to mid-IR ranges. In such a
situation, the same group also demonstrated the EO detection up to 100 THz
with the radiation source using the phase-matched optical rectification tech-
nique shown in Fig. 5 [5]. In the next section, the recent developments on the
broadband THz radiation sources will be introduced.
36 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 5. Amplitude spectrum of the

MIR radiation from 20 µm thick GaSe
crystal with an incidence angle of 60◦ .
Detector was 10.3 µm thick ZnTe [5]

1.2 Ultra-Broadband Emission Based on Optical Rectification

As introduced in the Chapter by Sakai and Tani, generating far-infrared (FIR)
radiation by the optical rectification dates back to the 1970s as well as the
FIR radiation using PC switches. As already pointed out in Shen’s famous
textbook on nonlinear optics [6], the difference-frequency generation is tech-
nically very important to generate the far- to mid-IR radiation, although it
does not theoretically differ much from the sum-frequency generation. The
developments on the ultrashort pulse lasers have also played a very impor-
tant role in the generation of the FIR radiation using optical nonlinearity
as in the case of THz optoelectronics related to PC switches. In this sec-
tion, the recent advancement on the far- to mid-IR radiation with the optical
rectification effect will be discussed.

1.2.1 Principles of Optical Rectification

In the plane-wave approximation, the electric field generated by the difference-
frequency mixing is proportional to the second-order time derivative of the
second-order nonlinear polarization given by (5) in the Chapter by Sakai and
Tani. The ultrashort optical pulses contain various spectral components and
the beatings between the different frequency components contained in a sin-
gle ultrashort pulse will generate a broadband, i.e., far- to mid-IR radiation.
In order to discuss further the optical rectification, (4) in the same chapter is
rewritten by the following equation giving the nonlinear polarization created
by a single optical pulse with the complex amplitude of the electric field,
E [7]

+∞
P (ω) = ε0 χ (2)
E(ω  )E ∗ (ω  − ω) dω  . (4)
−∞

In the above equation, the dispersion of the nonlinear coefficient is neglected.

The Fourier transformation of this equation gives P in the time domain
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 37

P (t) = ε0 χ(2) E (t) E ∗ (t) ∝ χ(2) I (t) . (5)

This equation in the time domain shows that the pulse width of the generated
radiation depends on that of the pump beam.
In the field of THz optoelectronics, the word “optical rectification” is used
for the generation of far- to mid-IR radiation using the second-order optical
nonlinearity. In a strict sense, the optical rectification effect produces an elec-
tric polarization with low-frequency components down to DC in a nonlinear
medium. In a plane-wave approximation, the second-order nonlinear term
giving the optical rectification effect is proportional to the intensity of the
incident light. With an ultrashort optical pulse, its spectral width is broad, so
that the various spectral components will beat with one another and generate
pulses containing the frequency components from far- to mid-IR radiation.
Thus the phenomenon is nothing but the difference-frequency generation. In
other words, one of the terms of the second-order nonlinear polarization that
contributes to the difference-frequency generation is approximated with a
square of the envelope electric field of the incident optical pulses because the
frequency components of the carrier wave is much higher than those of the
envelope of the optical pulses. Therefore the generation of the far- to mid-
IR radiation can be well approximated with the optical rectification effect.
In this section, we use the word, “optical rectification”, to specify the THz
pulse generated by the second-order nonlinear effect.

1.2.2 Experimental Results of Broadband Optical Rectification

Bonvalet et al. [7] first reported the generation of the broadband mid-IR
(MIR) radiation by pumping a GaAs surface with 15 fs optical pulses. The
15 fs optical pulses were delivered from the mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser
whose center wavelength was at 800 nm. Since GaAs absorbs the pump optical
beam mostly at the surface, only the penetrating depth of the wafer surface
contributed to the optical rectification effect. The refractive index of GaAs
in the MIR range is different from that at the NIR pump pulse, so that
the phases of the three interacting waves could not be matched. Even at
the expense of the generation efficiency due to this phase mismatching, they
observed the MIR radiation beyond the bandwidth of the HgCdTe detector,
as shown in Fig. 6.
After this generation of the MIR radiation with ultrashort optical pulses,
Wu and Zhang [3] demonstrated the generation of broadband pulsed THz
radiation and detection using EO sampling technique. As cited in Sect. 1.1.2,
they adopted a GaAs wafer for the generation of the broadband THz radiation
and observed the spectral components up to 37 THz.
Later, Han and Zhang investigated the optical rectification effect of differ-
ent materials in order to have broadband THz radiation [8]. They investigated
materials with different thickness as following: GaAs, InP, ZnTe, CdTe, GaP,
BBO, and LiTaO3 . The pulse width of the pump and probe beams was 12 fs.
38 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 6. Intensity spectrum of the MIR

radiation from GaAs surface pumped
with 15 fs optical pulse. The dashed
line corresponds to the theoretically
expected emission [7]

They proposed ZnTe crystal as one of the most suitable crystals for the gen-
eration and detection of broadband radiation with a mode-locked Ti:sapphire
laser.
In these experimental demonstrations, the phase-matching condition was
taken into account mainly to broaden the emission bandwidth by the opti-
cal rectification effect. Reducing the crystal thickness broadens the emission
bandwidth although the emission efficiency is reduced.

1.2.3 Phase-Matched Optical Rectification for Broadband

Terahertz Pulses

Apart from the optoelectronic THz-pulse techniques just described, genera-

tion of femtosecond pulses in MIR region has been of interest for the study of
ultrafast dynamics of elementary excitations in molecules and solids [9]. These
researches are mainly based on parametric frequency conversion of amplified
femtosecond pulses in the visible or NIR regions. Among these experimen-
tal researches elongating the converted wavelength into the MIR range, the
generation of MIR pulses by the phase-matched optical rectification does not
require amplified femtosecond laser pulses [10]. This experimental scheme
coincides with the THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) in EO sampling
shown in Fig. 15b of the Chapter by Sakai and Tani.
The optical rectification effect with a GaSe crystal provides a tunable MIR
radiation because of the birefringence of the crystal. Kaindl et al. [10, 11] re-
ported the generation of the MIR femtosecond pulses with the phase-matched
optical rectification effect in GaSe as shown in Fig. 7. The wavelength of the
generated pulses can be tuned from 7 µm to 20 µm by tilting the angle of the
GaSe crystal. In this report, the autocorrelation of the generated radiation
was measured by an interferometer with a HgCdTe detector whose sensitivity
was up to 20 µm.
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 39

Fig. 7. Normalized intensity spectra of femtosecond MIR pulses generated by

phase-matched optical rectification effect in GaSe for different phase-matching an-
gles [11]

It is quite natural to combine these MIR radiation sources with the EO

sampling technique to characterize the generated pulses since the detectable
bandwidth of the EO sampling technique was theoretically estimated up to
70 THz [4]. Huber et al. reported the generation of the femtosecond MIR
pulses and their phase-resolved detection as shown in Fig. 8. The generated
radiation was at 41 THz, corresponding to 7 µm at the center wavelength and
the pulse duration was less than 50 fs [12]. In the same group, Brodschelm
et al. [5] also reported the MIR radiation with a GaSe crystal tunable from
6 µm to 40 µm with the EO detection system resolving the frequency compo-
nents up to 100 THz.
The phase-matched optical rectification was further developed beyond
the wavelength tunability of the generated radiation. Eickemeyer et al. [13]
demonstrated controlling the shape of the MIR pulse radiation by modulating
the phases of the pumping femtosecond pulses. They detected the controlled
shape of the generated radiation with the EO sampling technique. Their
demonstration opens up a possibility of coherent-control experiments in the
MIR range.
The generation of broadband THz radiation by a nonphase-matched op-
tical rectification effect will be promising for static spectroscopy in the MIR
range. With the EO sampling technique, a fully coherent generation and de-
tection system can be a novel candidate for MIR spectroscopy where FTIR
is commonly used. The importance of the phase-matched optical rectification
does not need to be repeated. The studies on elementary excitations in solids
and molecules will be developed in the real-time domain with the combination
of the coherent detection and generation of the IR pulse radiations.
40 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 8. (a) Waveforms of THz pulses generated by phase-matched optical rectifica-

tion effect in 90 µm thick GaSe. The pulse width of the pump beam was 10 fs. The
waveforms were detected by the EO sampling technique with a 10.3 µm thick ZnTe
crystal, (b) Normalized amplitude spectra of EO-detected THz signal waveforms
from GaSe crystal with different phase-matching angles [12]

2 Ultra-Broadband Terahertz Pulses

with Photoconductive Antennas
The optical nonlinear effects treated in the previous sections are now com-
monly used in the generation and detection of THz pulses. The nonlinear
optical techniques are especially advantageous in their broadband proper-
ties and well-investigated frequency properties. The authors’ group recently
investigated the broadband properties of the PC antenna. The recent devel-
opment on the broadband detection of the PC antenna is precisely discussed
in Sect. 2.1. In Sect. 2.2, the latest report on the broadband emission of the
THz radiation with PC antenna is introduced.

2.1 Ultra-broadband Detection of Terahertz Pulses

with Photoconductive Antennas

Until very recently, the EO sampling technique has been the only method for
the phase-sensitive detection of the THz radiation whose frequency is higher
than 10 THz. Although the PC antenna was a key device to initiate the recent
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 41

development of THz optoelectronics, the PC sampling method has become

somewhat old-fashioned. In such a situation, the authors found a novel aspect
of the PC antenna: ultra-broadband detection. The detectable bandwidth of
the PC antenna can be extremely expanded with an optical gate pulse of 15 fs.
After a brief introduction of the principles of the PC detection, this section
is devoted to the recent developments on the ultra-broadband detection with
PC antenna.

2.1.1 Detection Principles of Photoconductive Antennas

As already mentioned in Sect. 3.1 of the Chapter by Sakai and Tani, the
detection principle of a PC antenna is the inverse process of the THz-pulse
generation. In the process of THz-pulse emission, photocarriers created by the
ultrashort optical pulses are accelerated by the bias electric field between the
antenna electrodes. This acceleration of carriers generates THz-pulse emis-
sion. Inversely, in the detection of THz radiation with PC antennas, the
current meter is connected instead of the bias voltage. Photocreated carriers
are accelerated by the electric field of the incident THz radiation and this
acceleration of the photocarriers is detected as a current. This current is pro-
portional to the product of the incident THz field and existing photo-created
carriers. The temporal change of the incident pulse can be traced by changing
the arrival time of the optical gate pulse. The photocurrent by the incident
radiation at a time delay t is described by the following equation [14]

∞
J(t) = eµ E(t )N (t − t) dt , (6)
−∞

where E(t ), N (t ), e and µ are the incident electric field of the THz radiation,
number of photocreated carriers, elementary electric charge, and electron
mobility, respectively.
In Sect. 2.1 of the Chapter by Sakai and Tani, the generation of a short
EM pulse is given by (1) as the time derivative of the photocurrent. Equa-
tion (6) in this chapter corresponds to the time integration of (1) in the
Chapter by Sakai and Tani. Equation (2) in the same chapter shows that the
photocurrent density is given by the convolution of the optical pulse intensity
and carrier density. In the description hereafter, the number of photocreated
carriers, N (t), includes this convolution for simplicity.
When the PC antenna is considered as a sampling detector, the temporal
increase and decrease of N (t) should be as short as possible: J(t) would ex-
actly reflect E(t) if N (t) were a δ-function. In reality, N (t) will be restricted
by several factors, such as gating pulse width, carrier lifetime of PC mate-
rial, and momentum relaxation of photocarriers. This is one of the reasons
to explore the materials with short carrier lifetime as already described in
the Chapter by Sakai and Tani. With the motivation to shorten the carrier
lifetime, low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) has been well developed.
42 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Actually, the reported bandwidth of the PC antennas has been so far up

to 6 THz by Ralph et al. [15] with a radiation damaged silicon-on-sapphire
(RD-SOS) PC antenna, and 7 THz by Gu et al. [16] with an LT-GaAs PC
antenna.

2.1.2 Experimental Findings of the Broadband Terahertz

Detection with a Photoconductive Antenna

At the same time, however, it was pointed out by Ralph and Grischkowsky
that the detectable bandwidth could be determined by the rise in carrier num-
ber influenced by the optical gate pulse, not by the carrier lifetime [17]. The
equation giving the photocurrent of the PC antenna, J(t), is transformed into
the following equation according to the convolution theorem of the Fourier
transformation:

J (ω) ∝ N (ω) · ETHz (ω) , (7)

where, J(ω), N (ω), and ETHz (ω) are the Fourier transforms of J(t), N (t),
and ETHz (t), respectively. According to this equation, the frequency distribu-
tion of N (t) should be exactly taken into account to consider the PC-antenna
response. In particular, when the rise time of N (t), which is mainly deter-
mined by the pulse width of the gating beam, is much shorter than the carrier
lifetime, N (t) can be approximated by a step function. In this case, the PC
antenna will work as an integrating detector of the ultrashort EM pulses.
Based on this principle, there were reports on the detection of the subpico-
second EM pulses by the PC antennas fabricated on semiconductors with
long carrier lifetime [18, 19].
Figure 9 shows the subpicosecond EM pulses detected with the PC an-
tenna fabricated on semi-insulating GaAs (SI-GaAs) reported by Sun et
al. [18]. The carrier lifetime was subnanosecond. The radiation source was
an unbiased GaAs wafer and the current from the PC antenna shows the
change in the subpicosecond time scale. They treated the change in the pho-
tocarrier number as a step function and concluded that the time derivative
of the photocurrent will give the incident THz-radiation waveform.
Tani et al. [19] further expanded these measurements by using PC anten-
nas fabricated on SI-GaAs and SI-InP. The waveforms shown in Fig. 10 are
the waveforms of the photocurrent detected by the PC antennas fabricated
on the SI-GaAs, SI-InP, and LT-GaAs, respectively. The carrier lifetime of
SI-GaAs was 36 ps, that of SI-InP 74 ps, while that of LT-GaAs was 0.4 ps.
As shown in the dashed trace of Fig. 10, the time derivative of the waveform
detected with the SI-InP PC antenna is very similar to that detected with
the LT-GaAs PC antenna. Furthermore, the Fourier-transformed spectra of
these waveforms shown in Fig. 11 are almost the same bandwidth. Accord-
ing to these experiments, when the carrier lifetime is long, the PC antenna
was concluded to work as an integrating detector. In these experiments, the
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 43

Fig. 9. Photocurrent signal wave-

form of THz pulse from GaAs wafer
detected with a long lifetime GaAs
PC antenna [18]

Fig. 10. Signal waveforms of THz

pulse detected with a PC antenna
fabricated on SI-GaAs (a), SI-
InP (b), and LT-GaAs (c). Dotted
curve represents a time differentia-
tion of the waveform detected with
a SI-InP PC antenna [19]

temporal resolution of the integrating detector is determined by the rise time

of the carrier number corresponding to the pulse width of the gating probe
beam.
In the integrating detection of the PC antenna, the temporal change in
the electric field of the incident THz radiation shorter than the gating pulse
width will be averaged. These experiments show that the frequency response
of the PC antenna is independent of the carrier lifetime. To increase the time
resolution of the PC antenna with the integrating property, the rise time of
the carrier number should be reduced. The detectable bandwidth of the PC
antenna was supposed to be extended by shortening the pulse width of the
gating beam as much as possible.
44 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 11. Fourier-transformed ampli-

tude spectra of THz pulses detected
with a PC antenna fabricated on
SI-GaAs (a), SI-InP (b), and LT-
GaAs (c) [19]

2.1.3 Demonstration of Broadband Photoconductive Detection

The first experimental demonstration of broadband detection with PC an-

tennas was done by Kono et al. Figure 12a shows the waveform of the THz
radiation from a SI-InP surface detected with an LT-GaAs PC antenna gated
with 15 fs optical pulses [20]. The measurements were made using the stan-
dard THz-TDS system shown in Fig. 15a in the Chapter by Sakai and Tani,
by replacing the PC emitter with an unbiased wafer of SI-InP. Besides the
large peak around the 0.5 ps time delay, which was attributed to the surface
current due to the optical pumping, very fast oscillations were overlapped on
the entire waveform. The shortest period was estimated to be 45 fs. These fast
oscillations are attributed to the optical rectification effect on the InP sur-
face as observed in the GaAs [3]. The PC antenna used in this measurement
was a 30 µm long dipole antenna with a 5 µm gap at the center, fabricated
on the 1.5 µm thick LT-GaAs layer grown at 250 ◦ C on the GaAs substrate.
The carrier lifetime was estimated to be 1.4 ps by a transient reflectance
measurement.
Figure 13 shows the Fourier-transformed spectrum of the detected THz-
signal waveform in Fig. 12b measured for a longer trace. The frequency
components up to 20 THz were detected. In this spectrum, some spectral
structures were identified. The large absorption band from 7 THz to 9 THz
is the phonon resonance in the 0.4 mm thick GaAs substrate of the PC an-
tenna. Some sharp lines due to water-vapor absorption were identified with
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 45

Fig. 12. Beginning (a) and entire

(b) signal waveforms of THz pulse
detected with an LT-GaAs PC an-
tenna gated with 15 fs optical pulses.
The THz-radiation source was an un-
biased SI-InP wafer [20]

Fig. 13. Fourier-transformed

spectrum of the detected
THz-signal waveform shown
in Fig. 12b [20]

the values in the literature within the spectral resolution of 36.6 GHz. The
absorption centered at 15.5 THz is due to the phonon oscillation in the Si
hemispherical lens.
However, the optical rectification effect in the wide-bandgap semiconduc-
tor surfaces is not as efficient as that in the EO crystals. Thus the upper limit
46 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 14. (a) PC-antenna-

detected signal waveform of
THz pulse generated from a
100 µm thick ZnTe crystal,
(b) Fourier-transformed spec-
trum of the signal waveform
shown in (a) [21]

of the detectable bandwidth was explored assuming the detectable bandwidth

to be broader than 20 THz.
The PC-antenna detection in the high-frequency region was investigated
by changing the radiation source from the semiconductor wafer to an EO
crystal. Figure 14a shows the PC-antenna-detected THz waveform radiated
from the 100 µm thick ZnTe crystal. The PC antenna was gated with the
15 fs optical pulses [21]. The pulse width of the pumping beam incident on
the ZnTe crystal was the same. The shortest period of the oscillation cycle
was estimated to be 15 fs.
The Fourier-transformed spectrum of this waveform is shown in Fig. 14b.
The frequency distribution exceeds 60 THz. This is the highest frequency de-
tected with the PC antenna so far reported [21]. The detectable bandwidth of
the PC antenna was found to be almost ten times broader than before. The
absorption band around 5 THz is due to the transverse-optical phonon ab-
sorption in the ZnTe emitter. The peaks at 14.3 THz, 19.9 THz, and 25.2 THz
are due to the phase-matching condition of the optical rectification effect in
the ZnTe emitter. In this measurement, the PC antenna was reversed from
the usual antenna geometry where the detected radiation was incident on
the side of the electrodes. The phonon absorption in the GaAs antenna sub-
strate could be reduced by reversing the antenna. This configuration also
gives another experimental advantage that is explained later.
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 47

Fig. 15. Signal waveforms

of THz pulses from ZnTe
crystal excited with 15 fs
optical pulses. (a) detected
with an LT-GaAs PC an-
tenna gated with 15 fs optical
pulses, (b) detected with EO
sampling technique. The EO
crystal was 12 µm thick [22]

2.1.4 Spectral Response of Photoconductive Antennas

in Broadband Detection

These measurements of the broadband THz radiation with the PC antenna

show that the detectable bandwidth is comparable to that of the EO sam-
pling technique using a thin EO crystal explained in Sect. 1.1. The frequency
response of the EO sampling technique was already investigated and well ex-
plained by the phase-matching condition between the gating probe pulse and
incident THz radiation. For the spectroscopic application of the PC antenna,
its frequency response should preferably be simple. In the broadband detec-
tion regime, the PC antenna qualitatively works as an integrating detector
as explained by the above description. For more quantitative investigation
of the frequency response of the PC antenna in this broadband detection
regime, the spectral response of the PC antenna was compared with that of
the EO sampling technique [22].
Figure 15 shows the waveforms of the THz radiation emitted from the
100 µm thick ZnTe crystal excited with 15 fs optical pulses: (a) detected with
the PC antenna, (b) detected with the 12 µm thick ZnTe crystal. The oscilla-
tion cycles in the respective waveforms are similar to each other, however, the
fast structures shown in Fig. 15a were rather rounded compared with those
in Fig. 15b. In both of the measurements, the pulse width of the gating or
probing beam was also 15 fs. The position of the PC antenna and EO crystal
was carefully adjusted to the focal point of the THz radiation for the precise
comparison, as depicted in the schematic representation shown in Fig. 16b.
The reversing of the PC antenna meant that the PC antenna could be easily
replaced with the ZnTe crystal without any change in the optical path, as
shown in Fig. 16a,c.
48 Shunsuke Kono et al.

1 2 fs p u ls e s
F ro m M o d e -lo c k e d
T i:S a p p h ire L a s e r
T im e D e la y
B a la n c e d
p h o to -re c e iv e r
T o c u rre n t a m p . T H z b e a m
+ L o c k -in a m p . P o la riz e d A
O p tic a l c h o p p e r b e a m s p litte r
P C a n te n n a l /4 p la te
Z n T e E m itte r E O c ry s ta l
p ro b e b e a m

S i m irro r

P C a n te n n a

(a ) (b ) (c )

Fig. 16. (a) Schematic representation of time-resolved PC sampling experimental

setup, (b) Antenna geometry. The THz pulse and gating beam were incident on
the side of the electrodes. (c) Schematic representation of EO sampling

Fig. 17. Fourier-trans-

formed spectra of (a) PC-
detected signal waveform
shown in Fig. 15a and EO-
detected signal waveform
shown in Fig. 15b

Figure 17 shows the Fourier-transformed spectra of the respective wave-

forms shown in Fig. 15. The frequency components below 5 THz in the
PC-detected Fourier-transformed spectrum shown in Fig. 17a, is more en-
hanced than those in the EO-detected Fourier-transformed spectrum shown
in Fig. 17b. On the other hand, the decay in the frequency components higher
than 20 THz in the PC-detected spectrum is faster than the EO-detected
spectrum.
For the quantitative comparison of these spectra, the frequency distribu-
tion of the carrier number, N (ω), is necessary. In order to determine N (ω),
the following assumptions were made: (1) the rise time of N (t) is given by
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 49

Fig. 18. Solid curve repre-

sents a frequency distribu-
tion of the photocarriers cre-
ated by the optical pulses
of 15 fs, N (ω). Dotted curve
represents an actual PC-
antenna response including
Fresnel transmission coeffi-
cient

the pulse width of the gating beam ∆t, (2) the decay of N (t) is given by the
carrier lifetime τc , (3) the momentum relaxation of the photocarriers is ne-
glected for simplicity. The rise of N (t) is proportional to the time integration
of the optical pulse intensity I(t):

I (t) = I0 sech2 (1.76t/∆t) . (8)

The above assumptions are taken into account to describe N (t) as follows:

N (t) = N0 exp (−t/τc ) [tanh (1.76t/∆t) + 1] /2 . (9)

Here, N0 is the maximum number of photocarriers.

The Fourier-transformed spectra of this equation, N (ω), is shown in
Fig. 18 with the gating pulse width of 15 fs. This frequency response shows
that the frequency components higher than 10 THz rapidly decrease. To de-
termine the actual antenna response, the frequency dependence of the Fresnel
coefficient T (ω) of the GaAs was also taken into account (shown by a dotted
trace in Fig. 18).
In order to compare the spectra shown in Fig. 17, the PC-detected spec-
trum is converted into an EO-detected spectrum by taking N (ω) and G(ω)
into account. Here, G(ω) is the frequency response of the EO sampling tech-
nique described in Sect. 1.1.1. In this conversion, G(ω) is calculated with a
12 µm thick ZnTe crystal.
Figure 19 shows the result of this conversion. The converted PC-detected
spectrum shown by the solid trace well reproduces the EO-detected spectrum
shown by the dashed trace. The dashed-dotted trace shows G(ω) used in this
conversion. The frequency components higher than 40 THz in the converted
spectrum are artifacts in this conversion. The signals on the noise floor are
enhanced by the division with N (ω) that rapidly decreases with the increase
in the frequency. This comparison shows that the frequency response of the
PC antenna is mainly determined by N (ω). According to the assumptions of
N (ω), N (ω) in the high-frequency region is determined by the pulse width of
the gating beam because the gating pulse width is a hundred times shorter
than the carrier lifetime. The frequency response of the PC antenna in the
high-frequency regime is mainly governed by the rise in carrier number, the
50 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 19. Solid curve represents the PC-detected spectrum converted into an EO-
detected spectrum by taking N (ω), TGaAs (ω), and G(ω) into account. Dashed curve
represents the EO-detected spectrum shown in Fig. 17b. Dashed-dotted curve rep-
resents the EO response function, G(ω), with 12 µm thick ZnTe crystal [22]

Fig. 20. PC response func-

tion N (ω) for different gat-
ing pulse widths

gating pulse width. Thus the detectable bandwidth of the PC antenna is

found to be determined by the gating pulse width, independent of the carrier
lifetime.

2.1.5 Photoconductive Antenna Response with Different Gating

Pulse Widths
Figure 20 shows N (ω) with the different pulse widths of the gating probe
beam. The decay of the frequency response above 5 THz critically depends
on the pulse width of the gating beam as expected. On the other hand, the
frequency response below 5 THz is almost independent on the gating pulse
width. The PC antenna works as a sampling detector in sufficiently low-
frequency regimes. The horizontal dashed line indicates the noise level of
the PC detection empirically determined. Figure 20 predicts that even with
the gating pulse width of 45 fs, the detectable bandwidth of the PC antenna
should be extended up to 30 THz with an intense enough radiation source.
This prediction was confirmed by detecting the THz radiation from a
100 µm thick ZnTe crystal pumped by 15 fs optical pulses with the PC an-
tenna gated with the probe beam of different pulse widths. The PC-detected
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 51

Fig. 21. Waveforms of THz pulses

detected with an LT-GaAs PC an-
tenna gated with the beam hav-
ing different pulse widths. The THz-
pulse source was pumped with 15 fs
optical pulses for all the waveforms

Fig. 22. Fourier-transformed

spectra of the respective wave-
forms shown in Fig. 21

waveforms gated with the beams having various pulse widths are shown in
Fig. 21. As the pulse width of the probe beam was broadened, the sharp peaks
in the waveforms were rounded. This behavior is consistent with Fig. 20,
showing that the high-frequency components rapidly decrease with the broad-
ening of the gating pulse width.
Figure 22 shows the Fourier-transformed spectrum of the respective wave-
forms shown in Fig. 21. The frequency components below 5 THz are almost
the same for all the spectra, while those above 5 THz decrease with the broad-
ening of the gating pulse widths. As the THz radiation source was the same
for all the waveforms, the decay of the high-frequency components of the
spectra is consistent with N (ω) of the different gating pulse widths, shown in
Fig. 20. As expected from the theoretical estimation, the frequency compo-
nents up to 30 THz were detected with the PC antenna gated with the pulse
width of 45 fs.
52 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 23. Frequency depen-

dence of the THz-beam spot
radius on the detectors

2.1.6 Effects of Antenna Structure

In the early days of the PC antenna development, the frequency response of

PC antennas was well investigated by Jepsen et al. [23]. In their treatments,
they considered the response of the photocreated carriers based on the Drude–
Lorentz model and geometrical factors derived from the antenna structure.
The analysis based on the Drude–Lorentz model well explains the actual
emission spectrum of the Hertzian dipole antenna that shows a broad spectral
distribution with a summit in the low-frequency region.
Furthermore, the frequency response of the PC antenna was analyzed in
terms of the geometrical response function (GRF) [23]. The GRF is a function
that describes the overlap between the focal spot of the THz beam and the
dipole antenna. As the focal size depends on the wavelength of the incident
radiation, GRF has a frequency dependence. Especially in the case of the
broadband detection, the incident THz pulses are described as a superposition
of the different frequency components. Thus GRF is necessarily considered.
The focal size of the incident THz pulses at different frequency components
was estimated by measuring the THz beam radii between the two off-axis
paraboloidal mirrors. The estimated beam radii were converted into the focal
sizes at the detectors assuming that the THz beam was a Gaussian beam.
Figure 23 shows the estimated focal size of the THz beam on the detectors as
a function of the frequency. This estimation shows that the spot size of the
THz beam does not significantly depend on the frequency in the frequency
range above 10 THz.
In the above comparison of the PC and EO sampling, the relative position
between the THz beam and gating or probing beam were the same for both
of the detection techniques. The area on the EO crystal sensitive to the THz
radiation was determined by the focal size of the probe beam. The focal
size of the gating probe beam was estimated to be about 30 µm. Thus the
active area on the EO crystal was similar to the size of the antenna dipole.
Therefore, even with the considerable change of the spot size in the frequency
range lower than 10 THz, the effect of GRF is not significant for the present
comparison of the spectral response.
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 53

Fig. 24. Photocurrent of

the LT-GaAs PC antenna
as a function of the DC
bias voltage under a cer-
tain gating-beam illumina-
tion condition [21]

2.1.7 Signal-to-Noise Characteristics in Broadband

Photoconductive Detection

The signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of the signal waveforms measured by the re-
spective detection techniques were similar to each other, as shown in Fig. 15.
In order to evaluate our experimental comparison in terms of SNR, we esti-
mate the peak electric field of the THz radiation detected in our measure-
ments [21].
The photocurrent from a biased PC antenna under a gating beam illumi-
nation is proportional to the applied biased voltage EDC

JDC = αEDC . (10)

The relation between the antenna responses under DC bias voltage given
by (6) and (10) is given by the following equation
∞
JTHz (t) ETHz (t ) N (t − t) dt
β= = −∞ ∞  
. (11)
JDC −∞ EDC N (t ) dt

Here, ETHz (t) assumes a normalized waveform of the incident THz radiation
and EDC is the DC electric field equal to unity. With these two factors, α and
β, and the reflection loss of the incident THz radiation at the antenna surface,
the photocurrent from the PC antenna at a delay time τd is approximated
by the DC electric field by the following equation

JTHz (τd ) = T αβ EDC . (12)

Here, T is the Fresnel transmission coefficient already introduced. The α is

deduced from Fig. 24 showing the current characteristics as a function of
the bias voltage under the same gating beam illumination as the waveform
measurements. According to the above formulae, the peak electric field of
the THz radiation was estimated to be about 20 V/cm at the peak current
of JTHz = 38 pA obtained from one of the typical signal waveforms.
The phase retardation induced by this peak electric field in an EO crys-
tal can be estimated with (1). Using this estimated phase retardation, the
54 Shunsuke Kono et al.

SNR of the EO sampling technique is estimated to be 470 with the following

assumptions: 10 µm thick ZnTe EO crystal, shot-noise limited measurement.
The typical SNR of the PC-detected signal waveform shown in our mea-
surements was estimated to be about 125. Thus the estimated SNR in the EO
sampling technique with the same electric field of the THz radiation is about
four times larger than the actual SNR in our measurement with the PC an-
tenna. This quantitative comparison shows that the experimental comparison
of both detection methods was quite reasonable, as shown in Fig. 15.

2.1.8 Experimental Techniques for the Application

of Photoconductive Antennas for Broadband Detection

To analyze PC-detected spectra in the broadband detection, the calibration

of the obtained spectra with the frequency response of the PC antenna is
necessary. This calibration is done by dividing the measured spectrum by
N (ω). This division was made in the experimental comparison of the PC
and EO sampling. However, the noise components around the noise floor
were unexpectedly enhanced as shown as the artifacts higher than 40 THz in
Fig. 19. Not only for noise components, but also for weak signals, the division
by N (ω) is not preferable since N (ω) rapidly decreases with the increase in
frequency. In order to avoid the inaccuracy derived from the numerical analy-
sis, another experimental method can be employed: the shaker modulation
technique [21]. The shaker modulation technique gives a modulation on the
optical path length in one of the arms in the THz-TDS system. The output of
the lock-in amplifier with shaker modulation will be proportional to the time
derivative of the detected signal. As described in Sect. 2.1.2–Sect. 2.1.5, the
PC antenna will work as an integrating detector in the high-frequency region.
If N (t), the temporal change in carrier number, is approximated with a step
function, the time derivation of the signal waveform with the shaker modu-
lation will give the original waveform of the THz pulses incident on the PC
antenna. Figure 25 shows the Fourier-transformed spectra, (a) detected with
a chopper modulation multiplied by ω (b) detected with the shaker modula-
tion, of the THz pulse from the same 100 µm thick ZnTe crystal. According
to the theorems of the Fourier transformation, the time derivation of the sig-
nal waveform is transformed into the frequency spectrum multiplied by the
frequency ω. The figure shows that the noise floor in the spectrum obtained
by the shaker modulation is almost ten times lower than that obtained by the
chopper modulation multiplied by ω. This experimental demonstration shows
that the shaker modulation technique is advantageous for the spectroscopic
analysis of the PC-detected spectrum in the broadband detection as far as
the following conditions are fulfilled: 1. the shaker modulation does not in-
crease the noise specific to the modulation technique itself, 2. the noise levels
in the signal waveforms are the same under both modulation techniques.
The experimental advantage of the shaker modulation is explained in an-
other way. The N (ω) is described by 1/ω when N (t) is a step function. In the
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 55

Fig. 25. Fourier-transformed

spectra of the THz pulses
from a 100 µm thick ZnTe
crystal detected with an LT-
GaAs PC antenna; (a) shows
the PC-detected spectrum
under shaker modulation;
(b) shows the PC-detected
spectrum multiplied by ω un-
der chopper modulation [21]

calibration of the Fourier-transformed spectrum, chopper-modulated spectra

are necessarily divided by N (ω), while shaker-modulated spectra are divided
by N (ω)/(1/ω). By shortening the pulse width of the gating beam, N (ω) in
the actual experimental condition approaches 1/ω. Thus the inaccuracy de-
rived from the numerical calibration in the frequency response can be reduced
with the shaker-modulation technique.

2.1.9 Discussions

Recent development on the EO sampling technique has been quite promising

for the phase-sensitive detection of the radiation in the high-frequency region
up to 100 THz. Here, we mention some experimental interests on the PC
antenna for the broadband detection.
The PC antenna compliments some disadvantages specific to the EO sam-
pling technique. In the EO sampling technique, there are frequency bands
insensitive to the incident radiation due to the phonon resonances. On the
other hand, the PC antenna can avoid this phonon absorption from 6 THz
to 10 THz by the following methods: 1. fabricating the PC antenna on the
different PC material, for example, high-resistivity silicon, 2. reversing the
PC antenna to receive the incident radiation on the antenna electrodes side.
For the broadband detection of THz radiation, the pulse width of the
gating probe beams should be as short as possible for the detection methods,
PC and EO sampling. However, in the EO sampling technique, the crystal
thickness should be estimated by taking into account of the phase-matching
condition dependent on the target frequency range. The frequency response of
the PC antenna, simply dependent on the gating pulse width, is advantageous
in the frequency analysis of spectra. Especially the combination with the
56 Shunsuke Kono et al.

shaker-modulation technique will compensate the frequency response rapidly

decreasing in the high-frequency range.
The robustness against the optical noises is another interesting point in
the PC detection. In the broadband detection of the radiation, the thick-
ness of the EO crystal should be reduced to ≈ 10 µm. The reduction of the
thickness also reduces the phase change in the probe beam. Therefore, the
sensitivity of the photodetectors is quite important to make an efficient mea-
surement. On the other hand, the electric field of the incident THz radiation
is directly converted to the photocurrent in the PC antenna. This means that
PC antennas are rather robust to the optical noises compared with the EO
sampling technique.

2.2 Ultra-Broadband Generation of Terahertz Radiation

with Photoconductive Antennas

In Sect. 2.1, the broadband detection with PC antenna was shown. The analy-
sis on the frequency response of the PC antenna shows that the classical
Drude–Lorentz model is still valid with the gating pulse width of 15 fs. In
other words, the detectable bandwidth of PC antennas is determined by the
gating pulse width, not by the RC time constant, nor by carrier lifetime.
This, in turn, implies that a PC antenna will work as an emitter generat-
ing broadband THz radiation when the pulse width of the pumping beam
is short enough. In this section, the recent achievement on the generation of
broadband THz radiation with a PC antenna is described.

2.2.1 Generation of Broadband Terahertz Radiation

with Photoconductive Antennas

The first demonstration of the generation of the broadband THz radiation

higher than 10 THz with a PC antenna was done by Tani et al. [24]. The PC
antenna used to generate the broadband THz radiation was fabricated on a
1.5 µm thick LT-GaAs layer grown at 250 ◦ C. The LT-GaAs layer was grown
on the 0.4 mm thick Si substrate in order to reduce absorption typically seen
in GaAs substrate. The antenna structure consists of 10 µm wide coplanar
striplines separated by 30 µm. The carrier lifetime of the LT-GaAs was esti-
mated to be 0.6 ps by a transient reflectivity measurement. The flat surface
of a Si lens was attached to the substrate side of the PC antenna so that the
Si lens and the Si substrate may form a hyperhemispherical lens. The optical
pump pulse was focused onto the biased PC gap with an off-axis paraboloidal
mirror. The excitation power was 240 mW. The pulse width of the pumping
beam was estimated to be 18 fs. The generated radiation was detected with
the THz-TDS system. In this system, an LT-GaAs PC antenna was used as
a detector. The detectable bandwidth of the PC antenna was shown to be
comparable to the EO sampling technique using a 10 µm-order thickness EO
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 57

crystal as explained in Sect. 2.1.4. In this measurement too, the PC antenna

detector was reversed, so that the generated THz radiation and the gating
beam were both incident on the side of the antenna electrodes.
Figure 26a shows an observed waveform of the THz radiation generated
with the PC antenna with a bias voltage of 12 V, pumped with 18 fs opti-
cal pulses. The Fourier-transformed spectrum of this waveform is shown in
Fig. 26b. The frequency distribution extends beyond 10 THz. An absorption
dip around 8 THz and peak at 8.8 THz were due to the phonon resonance in
GaAs layers of the PC emitter and detector. Other sharp absorption peaks
are due to water-vapor absorption. The amplitude of the generated THz ra-
diation was found to be linear to the bias voltage. Thus, the generated THz
radiation was concluded to be purely from the photoconductive current. The
nonlinear optical effect, such as optical rectification effect, was negligible in
this measurement.
Quite recently, ultra-broadband generation of THz radiation from LT-
GaAs PC antennas excited with 12 fs pulses was reported by Shen et al. [25,
26]. They demonstrated two types of generation and detection schemes: one
is a combination of PC generation and EO detection [25], the other is that of
PC generation and PC detection [26]. The bow-tie-type LT-GaAs PC antenna
used by Shen et al. consisted of wide-gapped electrodes whose separation was
0.4 mm. The bias voltage applied to the PC antenna was modulated with an
amplitude of ±120 V. In the scheme of the PC generation and EO detec-
tion, the bandwidth of the generated THz radiation was over 30 THz that
is the highest frequency generated with PC antennas. Figure 27 shows the
EO-detected waveform and its corresponding Fourier amplitude spectrum.
In the other scheme, using PC generation and PC detection, the detected
bandwidth was 15 THz. This bandwidth is consistent with the observation
by Tani et al. The reduction of the bandwidth in this scheme was due to the
detection frequency response of a PC antenna explained in Sect. 2.1.4. As
they also adopted PC detection, the amplitude of the THz radiation gener-
ated by the PC antenna was compared to the THz radiation generated by a
100 µm thick ZnTe crystal reported in [22]. The amplitude of the radiation
by the PC antenna was concluded to be two orders of magnitude larger than
the amplitude of the radiation generated by the EO crystal. This intense
radiation also enabled detection of the broadest bandwidth of 30 THz with
the EO sampling technique. Thus, the combination of the PC generation and
PC detection is interesting for practical application of the THz spectroscopy
system.

2.2.2 Frequency Distribution of Broadband Terahertz Radiation

from Photoconductive Antennas

In Sect. 2.1, the frequency response of the PC antenna in the broadband

detection was mainly analyzed with the temporal change in carrier number.
It was found that the fast rise of the carrier number by short enough optical
58 Shunsuke Kono et al.

Fig. 26. (a) Signal waveform of

THz pulse generated by a PC an-
tenna made on LT-GaAs gated
with 18 fs optical pulses. Detec-
tor was another LT-GaAs PC
antenna gated with 18 fs optical
pulses, (b) Thin solid curve rep-
resents the Fourier-transformed
spectrum of the signal waveform
shown in (a). Dotted curve (τ =
80 fs), thick solid curve (τ =
40 fs), and dashed curve (τ =
20 fs) represent numerical estima-
tions of the frequency distribu-
tion of the THz pulses generated
by the PC antenna with differ-
ent carrier momentum relaxation
times [24]

Fig. 27. (a) THz waveform gen-

erated by a PC antenna made on
LT-GaAs gated with 12 fs opti-
cal pulses. This waveform was de-
tected by the EO sampling tech-
nique with 20 µm thick ZnTe crys-
tal, (b) Solid curve represents
the Fourier-transformed ampli-
tude spectrum corresponding to
the waveform shown in (a). Dot-
ted curve represents the Fourier-
transformed spectrum measured
in the presence of a PTFE sam-
ple [25]
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 59

pulses was critical to broaden the detectable bandwidth. Tani et al. further
included the antenna factors considered in the model developed by Jepsen
et al. [23] to characterize the broadband THz radiation spectrum by the PC
antenna. The following factors were taken into account: the carrier lifetime τc ,
the carrier momentum relaxation time τ , the optical phonon resonance effect
in the LT-GaAs emitter and detector, and the frequency-dependent factor of
the geometrical structure of the PC antenna.
As introduced in the Chapter by Sakai and Tani, the transient cur-
rent J(t) in a PC emitter with DC bias Eb and pumped with a δ-function-like
optical pulse at time zero is given by the following equations

J (t) = 0 (t ≤ 0)
τ eEb
J (t) = −eN0 exp (−t/τc ) [1 − exp (−t/τ )] (t > 0) . (13)
m
An actual pump pulse has a finite pulse width, given by I(t), therefore
the real transient current is described by the convolution of J(t) with I(t).
Therefore, the transient current created by the pump pulse is given by the
convolution of J(t) with I(t)

J real (t) = J (t) ⊗ I (t) . (14)

The time derivative of this transient current is proportional to the radiated

electric field
∂J real (t)
ETHz (t) ∝ . (15)
∂t
The frequency distribution of the generated THz radiation is given by the
Fourier transform of J real (ω). The frequency components of the generated
radiation are given by the following equation

ETHz (ω) ∝ ωJ real (ω) = ωJ (ω) I (ω) . (16)

With this equation, the intensity profile of the excitation pulse I(ω) is given
by Fourier transformation of the sech2 function as described in Sect. 2.1.4.
In this model treatment, the carrier momentum relaxation time is only an
adjustable parameter. The dotted, thick, and dashed curves in Fig. 26b are
the estimated frequency distribution with the carrier momentum relaxation
time τ = 20 fs, 40 fs, and 80 fs, respectively. The model calculation shows
that the momentum relaxation time of τ = 40 fs reproduces the observed
spectrum. According to their model calculation, however, they found that the
low-frequency components are significantly affected by the carrier relaxation
time while the high-frequency components are not really affected. Therefore,
the broadband characteristics of the PC antenna are mainly determined by
the pulse width of the pump beam. In Sect. 2.1, the frequency response of
the PC antenna in broadband detection was analyzed by considering the
60 Shunsuke Kono et al.

pulse width of the gating beam, not the carrier momentum relaxation time.
The analysis in the former section was consistent with their finding. This
experimental conclusion was supported by the recent theoretical analysis done
by Duvillaret et al. [27].

2.2.3 Comparison of Radiation Bandwidth

In Sect. 1.2, the generation of the broadband THz radiation with a thin non-
linear crystal was introduced. As the PC antenna is also capable of generating
broadband THz radiation, it is worthwhile to compare the broadband radia-
tion efficiency of the PC antenna with that of the optical rectification effect.
The frequency distribution of the observed spectrum shown in Fig. 26b is
much narrower than that generated by the optical rectification effect using a
thin nonlinear crystal.
In the optical rectification effect, the generated THz radiation is propor-
tional to the second-order time derivative of the nonlinear (NL) polarization,
given by (5) in the Chapter by Sakai and Tani, which is repeated here in the
following form
∂ 2 P (t)
E NL (t) ∝ . (17)
∂t2
The nonlinear polarization P (t) is proportional to the intensity of the ex-
citation pulse as shown in (5) in Sect. 1.2.1 of this chapter. Therefore, the
generated radiation by the optical rectification effect is proportional to the
second-order time derivative of the excitation intensity I(t). The Fourier
transformation gives the relation between the bandwidth of the generated
radiation and the frequency distribution of the optical pump pulse described
by the following equation

E NL (ω) ∝ ω 2 G (ω) P (ω) ∝ ωI (ω) . (18)

Here, the phase-matching condition, G(ω), is included. In the third term of

the equation, G(ω) is approximated to be proportional to the inverse of the
frequency, ∝ 1/ω in the high-frequency region. This estimation shows that
the bandwidth of the generated THz radiation with the optical rectification
effect is qualitatively proportional to the product of the frequency bandwidth
of the optical pump pulse and frequency.
On the other hand, the THz radiation generated with the PC antenna is
proportional to the first-order time derivative of the transient current


∂ I (t) dt
∂J real (t) ∂N (t)
E PC (t) ∝ ∝ ∝ ∝ I (t) . (19)
∂t ∂t ∂t
The transient current is approximately proportional to the time integration
of the optical pump pulse because the pulse width of the pumping beam
 Generation and Detection of Broadband Pulsed Terahertz Radiation 61

is much shorter than the carrier lifetime in the case of the broadband THz
generation with PC antennas. Therefore, as in the treatment done in the
broadband PC detection, the generated THz radiation with a PC antenna is
proportional to the optical pulse intensity I(t).
Finally, the radiation bandwidths of the optical rectification and PC an-
tenna are compared by the following equations

Nonlinear: E NL (ω) ∝ ωI (ω) ,

Photoconductive: E PC (ω) ∝ I (ω) . (20)

The above relation shows that the optical rectification effect is advanta-
geous in the generation of the broadband THz radiation by the factor of
frequency ω.
The recent developments on the PC antenna enable the generation of the
broadband THz radiation beyond 10 THz. In spite of such developments, the
above analysis shows the advantage of the optical rectification effect in the
broadband THz generation. However, as pointed out in the previous section,
PC antennas can be fabricated on various PC materials. As seen in the spectra
shown in Sect. 1.2.2, the nonlinear crystal emitters like ZnTe, GaP can not
generate the radiation from 5 THz to 10 THz due to the phonon absorption
of the emitters themselves. The PC emitters can compensate this inactive
frequency region due to the phonon absorption by replacing the antenna
materials with a material other than GaAs, for example, RD-SOS. Recent
reports on the broadband generation of THz radiation using a PC emitter
proves that the combination of PC emitter and PC receiver has advantages for
the practical application of THz spectroscopy because of its intense radiation
and its simple spectral response [25, 26]. These recent reports support the
view that the PC emitters can be a promising radiation source and further
investigations on the antenna materials are expected.

3 Conclusions
Since the invention of the photoconductive antenna in the mid-1970s, the
generation and detection of ultrashort electromagnetic radiation has been
extended from the far- to mid-infrared region with the advancement of ul-
trashort lasers. Nonlinear optical effects have played an important role to
develop the coherent generation and detection of broadband THz radiation.
In this Chapter, the nonlinear optical techniques broadening the bandwidth
of the coherent THz radiation were introduced. In addition to the broadband
nonlinear optical effects, new aspects of the PC antenna, broadband PC de-
tection and generation, were discussed in detail. In terms of the bandwidth,
the PC antenna is not as advantageous as the nonlinear optical techniques.
However, the PC antenna has a variety of fabrication techniques and mate-
rials and may provide some complementary functions to the EO sampling
62 Shunsuke Kono et al.

and optical rectification techniques. These experimental techniques will be

important for further applications of pulsed THz radiation.

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Index

barium borate (BBO), 37 lithium tantalate (LiTaO3 ), 37

birefringence, 31 low temperature GaAs (LT-GaAs), 41

cadmium telluride (CdTe), 37 momentum relaxation, 41, 59

carrier lifetime, 41, 59
coherent-control experiments, 39 optical rectification, 31, 36, 37

δ-function, 41 parametric frequency conversion, 38

difference-frequency generation, 36 phase retardation, 32
Drude model, 52 phase-matched optical rectification, 38
photoconductive (PC) antenna, 32, 40
PC sampling, 41
electro-optic (EO) effect, 31
EO crystal, 31
radiation-damaged Si-on-sapphire
EO sampling, 31
(RD-SOS), 42
gallium arsenide (GaAs), 37 sampling detector, 41
gallium phosphide (GaP), 32, 37 shaker modulation, 54
geometrical response function, 52 shot-noise limit, 34
group velocity mismatch, 32 signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), 53
step function, 42
high-resistivity silicon (Si), 55
transient reflectance measurement, 44
indium phosphide (InP), 37
integrating detector, 42 zinc telluride (ZnTe), 32, 37