Recent intense electrical and optical studies of graphene have pushed the material to the forefront of optoelectronic research. Of particular interest is the few terahertz (THz) frequency regime where efficient light sources and highly sensitive detectors are very challenging to make. Here we present THz sources and detectors made with graphene field effect transistors (GFETs) enhanced by a double-patch antenna and an on-chip silicon lens. We report the first experimental observation of 1-3 THz radiation from graphene, as well as four orders of magnitude performance improvements in a GFET thermoelectric detector operating at ~2 THz. The quantitative analysis of the emitting power and its unusual charge density dependence indicate significant non-thermal contribution from the GFET. The polarization resolved detection measurements with different illumination geometries allow for detailed and quantitative analysis of various factors that contribute to the overall detector performance. Our experimental results represent a significant advance towards practically useful graphene THz devices.
Subject terms: Physical sciences, Materials science, Condensed matter3
Manuscript textThe gapless electronic structure of graphene 1 is a unique property that has drawn significant attention from both basic sciences and practical applications 2 . In particular, it enables broadband interaction of photons with the two dimensional (2D) atomic layer from the far infrared up to the ultraviolet 3 . This has led to various optoelectronic devices operating with photons in the visible 4-7 , near infra-red [8][9][10][11] , mid infra-red [12][13][14][15][16] and far infrared [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] . Applications of graphene field effect transistors (GFET) in the few terahertz (THz) frequency range are particularly appealing since it's one of the least developed regimes lying in the gap between efficient manipulation with electronics and photonics [25][26][27] . Here we perform combined THz emission-detection measurements using devices made with monolayer graphene. Our results represent the first study of THz emission from graphene, as well as significant improvements in GFET thermoelectric THz detectors.A common bottleneck in graphene photonic and optoelectronic devices is the limited light-matter interaction, because of the 2D crystal's sub-nanometer thickness.This has led to the 'greybody' radiation 28,29 range that is notoriously difficult to work with. For the emitter, we observe a radiated power that is significantly larger than the anticipated thermal radiation, suggesting additional radiation channels at our disposal for devising efficient graphene THz sources.For the detector, we achieve four orders of magnitude sensitivity improvements, which, in conjunction with its high speed 19,20 , makes the GFET a strong competitor to other contemporary THz sensors.The antenna is designed to have a size of 45×31 µm 2 as shown in Fig.1 indicates an optimal operation frequency of 2.1THz. The electric field distribution at ...