Far infrared (THz) electroluminescence from Si/SiGe quantum cascade heterostructures

Lynch, Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9818-2284, Paul, D. J., Bates, R., Norris, D. J., Cullis, A. G., Ikonic, Z., Kelsall, R. W., Harrison, P., Arnone, D. D. and Pidgeon, C. R. 2003. Far infrared (THz) electroluminescence from Si/SiGe quantum cascade heterostructures. Presented at: Optics and Photonics Technologies and Applications, Galway, Ireland, 5 - 6 Sept 2002. Published in: Thomas, J. Glynn ed. Opto-Ireland 2002 : optics and photonics technologies and applications : 5-6 September 2002, Galway, Ireland (Proceedings). Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering (4876) Bellingham, WA: SPIE, pp. 140-149. 10.1117/12.463738

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Abstract

There is strong interest in the development of sources that emit radiation in the far infrared (1-10 THz) frequency range for applications which include early detection of skin cancer, dental imaging, telecommunications, security scanning, gas sensing, astronomy, molecular spectroscopy, and the possible detection of biological weapons. While a number of THz sources are available, there are at present no compact, efficient, cheap and practical high-power solid-state sources such as light emitting diodes or lasers. Silicon is an excellent candidate for such a THz source since the lack of polar optical phonon scattering makes it an inherently low loss material at these frequencies. Furthermore, since over 97% of all microelectronics is presently silicon based; the realisation of a silicon based emitter/laser could potentially allow integration with conventional silicon-based microelectronics. In this paper THz electroluminescence from a Si/SiGe quantum cascade structure operating significantly above liquid helium temperatures is demonstrated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was performed using step scan spectrometer with a liquid helium cooled Si-bolometer for detection. Spectra are presented demonstrating intersubband electroluminescence at a number of different frequencies. These spectral features agree very well with the theoretically calculated intersubband transitions predicted for the structure.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Electroluminescence ; Far infrared ; Heterojunctions ; Terahertz radiation ; Silicon ; Microelectronics ; Lasers ; Helium ; Terahertz sources ; Light emitting diodes
Publisher:	SPIE
ISBN:	9780819446572
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2022 09:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/64952

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