Terahertz surfoluminescence

Abstract

The cleaving of a solid to form two new surfaces may result in the emission of light. Conventional mechanoluminescence involves the transfer of charge between the two surfaces. We now demonstrate that the ultra-fast separation of charge within a newly-formed surface will lead to the emission of electromagnetic radiation. In contrast to the visible light previously observed and modeled, the intra-surface radiation contains terahertz frequencies. This new mechanism -named here surfoluminescence -introduces a new class of terahertz-frequency emitters. It also may in part explain the recent observation of terahertz emission from peeling adhesive tape.

State-of-the-art in terahertz sensing for food and water security – A comprehensive review

“…A terahertz source generates a wide range of radiation [59]. R. A. Lewis [60] presents six types of THz sources which include thermal [61] [62], vacuum electronic [63]- [65], solid-state electronic [66] [67], lasers [68] [69], sources pumped by lasers (including continuous [70] [71], pulsed [72] [73]) and mechanical excitation sources [74] [75].…”

Terahertz (THz) Spectroscopy: A Cutting‐Edge Technology

“…R. A. Lewis list six main types of terahertz sources [6]. These include thermal [7,8], vacuum electronic [9][10][11], solid-state electronic [12,13], lasers [14,15], sources pumped by lasers [16,17], and mechanical-excitation types of terahertz radiation sources [18,19]. Sources pumped by lasers employ either continuous or pulsed lasers.…”

Parameters Controlling Emission of Terahertz Frequency Electromagnetic Radiation from InAs and GaAs: An Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulation Study

“…In this paper we examine a simple method to implement, optical excitation of bare semiconductor surfaces. We have previously reported that surface formation itself can give rise to terahertz radiation (9). In this paper we compare and contrast the emission from InAs (10,11) and from GaAs (12) under optical excitation by ultrashort pulses.…”