Germanium is a nonpolar semiconductor with missing Reststrahlen band. In spite of other promising properties including low bandgap and small effective mass, its long, µs-scale recombination time has been prohibitive for applications as photoconductive THz emitters. Using Au-implantated Ge, with recombination times reduced to sub-ns values, we have demonstrated a broadband photoconductive THz emitter compatible with modelocked fibre lasers operating at wavelengths of 1.1 and 1.55 µm and with pulse repetition rates of 78 MHz. Reaching up to 70 THz bandwidth, this approach points towards the possibility of compact, high-bandwidth THz photonic devices compatible with Si CMOS technology.
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