Ultrabroadband Tellurium Photoelectric Detector from Visible to Millimeter Wave

Ultrabroadband photodetection is of great significance in numerous cutting-edge technologies including imaging, communications, and medicine. However, since photon detectors are selective in wavelength and thermal detectors are slow in response, developing high performance and ultrabroadband photodetectors is extremely difficult. Herein, one demonstrates an ultrabroadband photoelectric detector covering visible, infrared, terahertz, and millimeter wave simultaneously based on single metal-Te-metal structure. Through the two kinds of photoelectric effect synergy of photoexcited electron-hole pairs and electromagnetic induced well effect, the detector achieves the responsivities of 0.793 A W-1 at 635 nm, 9.38 A W-1 at 1550 nm, 9.83 A W-1 at 0.305 THz, 24.8 A W-1 at 0.250 THz, 87.8 A W-1 at 0.172 THz, and 986 A W-1 at 0.022 THz, respectively. It also exhibits excellent polarization detection with a dichroic ratio of 468. The excellent performance of the detector is further verified by high-resolution imaging experiments. Finally, the high stability of the detector is tested by long-term deposition in air and high-temperature aging. The strategy provides a recipe to achieve ultrabroadband photodetection with high sensitivity and fast response utilizing full photoelectric effect.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates a high-performance ultrabroadband photoelectric detector based on a metal-Te-metal structure, achieving coverage of multiple wavelength bands. Through the synergy of two photoelectric effects, high responsivities at different wavelengths are achieved.