Open AccessTerahertz meta-atoms coupled to a quantum well intersubband transition
Author(s) -
D. Dietze,
A. Benz,
G. Strasser,
K. Unterrainer,
J. Darmo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.19.013700
Subject(s) - terahertz radiation , metamaterial , physics , quantum well , coupling (piping) , optics , optoelectronics , electromagnetic radiation , electromagnetic field , materials science , laser , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
We present a method of coupling free-space terahertz radiation to intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum wells using an array of meta-atoms. Owing to the resonant nature of the interaction between metamaterial and incident light and the field enhancement in the vicinity of the metal structure, the coupling efficiency of this method is very high and the energy conversion ratio from in-plane to z field reaches values on the order of 50%. To identify the role of different aspects of this coupling, we have used a custom-made finite-difference time-domain code. The simulation results are supplemented by transmission measurements on modulation-doped GaAs/AlGaAs parabolic quantum wells which demonstrate efficient strong light-matter coupling between meta-atoms and intersubband transitions for normal incident electromagnetic waves.