Milliwatt-level output power in the sub-terahertz range generated by photomixing in a GaAs photoconductor

Emilien Peytavit (1) , Sylvie Lepilliet (1) , Francis Hindle (2) , Christophe Coinon (1) , Tahsin Akalin (1) , Guillaume Ducournau (1) , Gaël Mouret (2) , Jean-Francois Lampin (1)

1 IEMN - Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520
2 LPCA - Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de l'Atmosphère

It is shown from accurate on-wafer measurement that continuous wave output powers of 1.2 mW at 50 GHz and 0.35 mW at 305 GHz can be generated by photomixing in a low temperature grown GaAs photoconductor using a metallic mirror Fabry-Pérot cavity. The output power is improved by a factor of about 100 as compared to the previous works on GaAs photomixers. A satisfactory agreement between the theory and the experiment is obtained in considering both the contribution of the holes and the electrons to the total photocurrent.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Emilien Peytavit, Sylvie Lepilliet, Francis Hindle, Christophe Coinon, Tahsin Akalin, et al.. Milliwatt-level output power in the sub-terahertz range generated by photomixing in a GaAs photoconductor. Applied Physics Letters, 2011, 99, pp.223508-1-3. ⟨10.1063/1.3664635⟩. ⟨hal-00783534⟩