Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 8, Issue 15, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi8398
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Funding
- George and Lillian Schiff Studentship of the University of Cambridge
- Cambridge Trust
- European Union [881603]
- EPSRC [EP/P021859/1, EP/S019383/1]
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The authors report a new phenomenon called the in-plane photoelectric effect, which exhibits a giant photoresponse at terahertz frequencies. This provides an opportunity for efficient direct detection across the entire terahertz range.
Many mid- and far-infrared semiconductor photodetectors rely on a photonic response, when the photon energy is large enough to excite and extract electrons due to optical transitions. Toward the terahertz range with photon energies of a few milli-electron volts, classical mechanisms are used instead. This is the case in two-dimensional electron systems, where terahertz detection is dominated by plasmonic mixing and by scattering-based thermal phenomena. Here, we report on the observation of a quantum, collision-free phenomenon that yields a giant photoresponse at terahertz frequencies (1.9 THz), more than 10-fold as large as expected from plasmonic mixing. We artificially create an electrically tunable potential step within a degenerate two-dimensional electron gas. When exposed to terahertz radiation, electrons absorb photons and generate a large photocurrent under zero source-drain bias. The observed phenomenon, which we call the in-plane photoelectric effect, provides an opportunity for efficient direct detection across the entire terahertz range.
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