Terahertz pulse emission from GaInAsBi

Quaternary GaInAsBi alloy epitaxial layers were grown on InP substrates with 6% Bi. It was found that the thick layers remain fully strained. The measured carrier lifetimes were of the order of a few picoseconds. The terahertz (THz) emission was investigated using a GaInAsBi layer as an unbiased surface emitter and as a substrate for photoconductive antenna. It was observed that fabricated THz emitters were sensitive to the optical pulses with wavelengths longer than 2 mu m. The demonstrated spectral characteristics of THz pulses obtained when using an Er-doped fiber laser for photoexcitation were comparable with those observed in other emitters used for THz-time-domain spectroscopy systems. Published under license by AIP Publishing.