Premium
Highly Efficient Terahertz Generation Using 3D Dirac Semimetals
Author(s) -
Wang Lu,
Lim Jeremy,
Wong Liang Jie
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
laser and photonics reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.778
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1863-8899
pISSN - 1863-8880
DOI - 10.1002/lpor.202100279
Subject(s) - terahertz radiation , energy conversion efficiency , dirac (video compression format) , graphene , semimetal , optoelectronics , fermi energy , physics , fermi level , materials science , terahertz gap , optics , nanotechnology , terahertz metamaterials , far infrared laser , band gap , quantum mechanics , neutrino , electron , laser
It is shown that three‐dimensional Dirac semimetals are promising candidates for highly efficient optical‐to‐terahertz conversion due to their extreme optical nonlinearities. In particular, it is predicted that the conversion efficiency ofCd 3 As 2 $\text{Cd}_{\text{3}}\text{As}_{\text{2}}$ exceeds typical materials likeLiNbO 3 $\text{LiNbO}_{\text{3}}$ by >5000 times over nanoscale propagation distances. Studies show that even when no restrictions are placed on propagation distance,Cd 3 As 2 $\text{Cd}_{\text{3}}\text{As}_{\text{2}}$ still outperformsLiNbO 3 $\text{LiNbO}_{\text{3}}$ in efficiency by >10 times. The results indicate that by tuning the Fermi energy, Pauli blocking can be leveraged to realize a step‐like efficiency increase in the optical‐to‐terahertz conversion process. It is found that large optical‐to‐terahertz conversion efficiencies persists over a wide range of input frequencies, input field strengths, Fermi energies, and temperatures. These results could pave the way to the development of ultrathin‐film terahertz sources for compact terahertz technologies.