Enhanced THz generation from large-area photoconductive antennas via spatially patterned photoexcitation profile

Rayko Stantchev^1,2*, Simon A. R. Horsley², Samuel M. Hornett², Euan Hendry²

¹Department Of Physics, National Sun Yat-sen university, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
²Department of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

* Presenter:Rayko Stantchev, email:rayko.stantchev@g-mail.nsysu.edu.tw

Terahertz (THz) time domain spectrometers have been used in security, bio-medical imaging and non-invasive inspections of both car paint and historical paintings. Signal to noise ratios and therefore speed of acquisition is currently limited by the low output power of the photoconductive anntenna's used to generate the single cycle THz pulse. Here, by using a digital micromirror device to spatially pattern the photoexcitation profile of a photoconductive antenna into periodic stripes, we show enhanced THz generation when compared to a homogeneous excitation profile.

Keywords: photoconductive antennas, Terahertz generation, spatial light modulation