Electrically tunable detector of THz-frequency signals based on an antiferromagnet

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel electrically tunable THz-frequency detector using an antiferromagnetic/heavy metal heterostructure, which converts signals into DC voltage via the inverse spin Hall effect and can be tuned by bias current.

Contribution

It introduces a new resonance detector design based on AFM/HM heterostructures with tunable AFMR frequency via bias current, enhancing detection flexibility.

Findings

Tunable resonance frequency range of at least 10% of AFMR.

Sensitivity comparable to modern Schottky, Gunn, or graphene detectors.

Effective voltage conversion through inverse spin Hall effect.

Abstract

A concept of an electrically tunable resonance detector of THz-frequency signals based on antiferromagnetic/heavy metal (AFM/HM) hetero-structure is proposed. The conversion of a THz-frequency input signal into DC voltage is done using the inverse spin Hall effect in an (AFM/HM) bilayer. An additional bias DC current in the HM layer can be used to vary the effective anisotropy of the AFM, and, therefore, to tune the AFMR frequency. The proposed AFM/HM hetero-structure works as a resonance-type quadratic detector which can be tuned by the bias current in the range of at least 10 percent of the AFMR frequency and our estimations show that the sensitivity of this detector could be comparable to that of modern detectors based on the Schottky, Gunn or graphene-based diodes.