Investigation of terahertz mechanism in GaAs-on-Si(100)
Abstract
We investigate the terahertz (THz) mechanism in GaAs films deposited on Si substrates (GaAs/Si). THz radiation is observed from femtosecond laser-excited GaAs/Si in the reflection geometry. In particular, SI-GaAs/Si exhibits the strongest emission compared to the other GaAs-based samples and comparable to bulk p-InAs which is the currently-accepted strongest THz emitter. The GaAs/Si films have no significant azimuthal angle dependence of THz signal amplitude. Pump excitation power experiments show that SI-GaAs/Si has a higher saturation value than p-InAs due to the laser's deeper penetration depth in GaAs as compared to that of p-InAs. In addition, the type of doping could greatly affect the THz emission properties of the GaAs/Si film. This enhancement in THz radiation in GaAs/Si could be attributed to surge current by the acceleration of photo-generated carriers in the surface field and not to nonlinear optical rectification effect.