Broadband THz to NIR up-converter for photon-type THz imaging.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31383862.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11465-6 and PMC identifier 6683120.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
High performance terahertz imaging devices have drawn wide attention due to their significant application in healthcare, security of food and medicine, and nondestructive inspection, as well as national security applications. Here we demonstrate a broadband terahertz photon-type up-conversion imaging device, operating around the liquid helium temperature, based on the gallium arsenide homojunction interfacial workfunction internal photoemission (HIWIP)-detector-LED up-converter and silicon CCD. Such an imaging device achieves broadband response in 4.2-20 THz and can absorb the normal incident light. The peak responsivity is 0.5 AW<sup>-1</sup>. The light emitting diode leads to a 72.5% external quantum efficiency improvement compared with the one widely used in conventional up-conversion devices. A peak up-conversion efficiency of 1.14 × 10<sup>-2</sup> is realized and the optimal noise equivalent power is 29.1 pWHz<sup>-1/2</sup>. The up-conversion imaging for a 1000 K blackbody pin-hole is demonstrated. This work provides a different imaging scheme in the terahertz band.