Demonstration of the plasmonic THz phase shifter at room temperature

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate that above 300 GHz, the plasmonic phase shifter can operate at up to room temperature. We investigate the temperature-dependent behavior of the phase shift introduced by a two-dimensional electron system in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. We find that the temperature-effected changes in the relaxation time and effective mass contribute most to the phase shifter performance. The physical model developed in the study shows good agreement with the experimental data. The results open up the prospects for the practical applications of plasmonics in the terahertz frequency gap.