All-electric detectors of the polarization state of terahertz laser radiation (extended version)

TL;DR

This paper introduces two room-temperature, all-electric terahertz polarization detectors based on photogalvanic effects in semiconductor quantum wells, capable of high time resolution in polarization measurements.

Contribution

The paper presents novel terahertz polarization detectors utilizing photogalvanic effects, enabling all-electric, high-speed polarization analysis at room temperature.

Findings

Detectors operate at room temperature.

High time resolution due to sub-nanosecond effects.

Capability to determine polarization state accurately.

Abstract

Two types of room temperature detectors of terahertz laser radiation have been developed which allow in an all-electric manner to determine the plane of polarization of linearly polarized radiation and the ellipticity of elliptically polarized radiation, respectively. The operation of the detectors is based on photogalvanic effects in semiconductor quantum well structures of low symmetry. The photogalvanic effects have sub-nanosecond time constants at room temperature making a high time resolution of the polarization detectors possible.