We report on the absorption properties of polarization-insensitive transmissive and reflective metamaterial absorbers based on two planar aluminium periodic structures and SU-8 epoxy resist. These absorbers were investigated using numerical simulation and experimental methods in the terahertz range (below 2 THz). SU-8 is a very promising organic material for dielectric layers in planar metamaterials, because its application simplifies the process of fabricating these structures and significantly reduces the fabrication time. The experimental absorption of the metamaterial absorbers has narrowband characteristics that were consistent with the numerical simulations. Power flow analysis in the transmissive metamaterial unit cell shows that the absorption in the terahertz range occurs primarily in the SU-8 layer of the absorber.

In this work we propose and analyze the possibility of creating terahertz plasmon-emitting graphene-channel transistor. It is shown that at electric pumping the damping of the terahertz plasmons can give way to their amplification, when the real part of the dynamic conductivity of graphene becomes negative in the terahertz range of frequencies due to the interband population inversion.

The explosive rise of wireless services necessitates a network connection with high bandwidth, high performance, low mistakes, and adequate channel capacity. Individual mobile users, as well as residential and business clusters are increasingly using the internet and multimedia services, resulting in massive increases in the internet traffic demand. Over the past decade, internet traffic has grown significantly faster than Moore’s law predicted. The current system is facing significant radio frequency spectrum congestion and is unable to successfully transmit growing amounts of (available) data to end users while keeping acceptable delay values in mind. Free space optics is a viable alternative to the current radio frequency technology. This technology has a few advantages, including fast data speeds, unrestricted bandwidth, and excellent security. Since free space optics is invisible to traffic type and data protocol, it may be quickly reliably and profitably integrated into an existing access network. Despite the undeniable benefits of free space optics technology under excellent channel conditions and its wide range of applications, its broad use is hampered by its low link dependability, especially over long distances, caused by atmospheric turbulence-induced decay and weather sensitivity. The best plausible solution is to establish a secondary channel link in the GHz frequency range that works in tandem with the primary free space optics link. A hybrid system that combines free space optics and millimeter wave technologies in this research is presented. The combined system offers a definitive backhaul maintenance, by drastically improving the link range and service availability.

We report on the photoresponse dependence on the terahertz radiation intensity in ALGaN/GaN HEMTs. We show that the ALGaN/GaN HEMT can be used as a THz detector in CW and in pulsed regime up to radiation intensity of several kW/cm². The dynamic range in the pulsed regime of detection can be more than 2 decades. We observed that the photoresponse of the HEMT could have a compound composition if two independent parts of the transistor are involved in the detection process; this result indicates that a more simple one channel device may be preferable on the detection purpose.

Infrared (IR) science and technology has been mainly dedicated to surveillance and security: since the 70’s specialized techniques have been emerging in thermal imaging for medical and cultural heritage diagnostics, building and aeronautics structures control, energy savings and remote sensing. Most of these applications were developed thanks to IR FPAs sensors with high numbers of pixels and, actually, working at room temperatures. Besides these technological achievements in sensors/ receivers, advanced developments of IR laser sources up to far IR bands have been achieved in the form QCL (quantum cascade laser), allowing wide band TLC and high sensitivity systems for security. recently new sensors and sources with improved performances are emerging in the very far IR region up to submillimeter wavelengths, the so called terahertz (THz) region.

A survey of the historical growth and a forecast of the future developments in Devices and Systems for the new frontier of IR will be discussed, in particular for the key questions: “From where and when is IR coming?”, “Where is it now?” and “Where will it go and when?”. These questions will be treated for key systems (Military/Civil), key devices (Sensors/ Sources), and new strategic technologies (Nanotech/TeraHertz).

An innovative measurement setup for the dielectric characterisation of fibres in a terahertz time-domain spectrometer using an HDPE elliptical lens for coupling into the fibres has been built and validated by measurements of several different types of samples. The setup is based on a commercial all fibre-coupled terahertz time-domain spectrometer. Measurements of the effective refractive index have been conducted on polypropylene-based three-dimensional printing filaments, silica glass rods, and a polytetrafluoroethylene cord of lowered density, covering the frequency range of approximately 100 GHz to 1 THz. The theoretical part of the work includes numerical calculations performed via the finite difference eigenmode method and the characteristic equations of a uniform circular dielectric waveguide for a few guided modes, from which it is clear that primarily the fundamental mode propagates along the fibre. Details on model-based phase corrections, crucial to the accurate determination of the effective refractive index of dispersive fibres, have been presented as well.

This paper reports on compact CMOS-based electronic sources and detectors developed for the terahertz frequency range. It was demonstrated that with the achievable noise-equivalent power levels in a few tens of pW\Hz ^1/2 and the emitted power in the range of 100 μW, one can build effective quasi-optical emitter-detector pairs operating in the 200–266 GHz range with the input power-related signal-to-noise ratio reaching 70 dB for 1 Hz-equivalent noise bandwidth. The applicability of these compact devices for a variety of applications including imaging, spectroscopy or wireless communication links was also demonstrated.

We present an overview of our technological achievements in the implementation of detector structures based on mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) heterostructures and nanostructures for IR and THz spectral ranges. We use a special MBE design set for the epitaxial layer growth on (013) GaAs substrates with ZnTe and CdTe buffer layers up to 3” in diameter with the precise ellipsometric monitoring in situ. The growth of MCT alloy heterostructures with the optimal composition distribution throughout the thickness allows for the realization of different types of many-layered heterostructures and quantum wells to prepare the material for fabricating single- or dual-band IR and THz detectors.

We also present the two-color broad-band bolometric detectors based on the epitaxial MCT layers that are sensitive in 150–300-GHz subterahertz and infrared ranges from 3 to 10 μm, which operate at the ambient or liquid nitrogen temperatures as photoconductors, as well as the detectors based on planar HgTe quantum wells. The design and dimensions of THz detector antennas are optimized for reasonable detector sensitivity values. A special diffraction limited optical system for the detector testing was designed and manufactured. We represent here the THz images of objects hidden behind a plasterboard or foam plastic packaging, obtained at the radiation frequencies of 70, 140, and 275 GHz, respectively.

We review recently proposed concepts of infrared and terahertz photodetectors based on graphene van der Waals heterostructures and HgTe-CdHgTe quantum well heterostructures and demonstrate their potential.

Transport, photoluminescence, THz transmission, and optically detected cyclotron resonance studies were carried out on samples with a single modulation-doped CdTe/Cd _1-xMg _xTe quantum well. THz experiments were performed at liquid helium temperatures for photon energies between about 0.5 meV and 3.5 meV. An effective mass of electron was determined to be (0.1020±0.0003)m ₀. Observed photoluminescence and optically detected cyclotron resonance spectra cannot be explained within the simple model of Landau quantization of parabolic bands.

Graphene applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices have been thoroughly and intensively studied since graphene discovery. Thanks to the exceptional electronic and optical properties of graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials, they can become promising candidates for infrared and terahertz photodetectors.

Quantity of the published papers devoted to 2D materials as sensors is huge. However, authors of these papers address them mainly to researches involved in investigations of 2D materials. In the present paper this topic is treated comprehensively with including both theoretical estimations and many experimental data.

At the beginning fundamental properties and performance of graphene-based, as well as alternative 2D materials have been shortly described. Next, the position of 2D material detectors is considered in confrontation with the present stage of infrared and terahertz detectors offered on global market. A new benchmark, so-called “Law 19”, used for prediction of background limited HgCdTe photodiodes operated at near room temperature, is introduced. This law is next treated as the reference for alternative 2D material technologies. The performance comparison concerns the detector responsivity, detectivity and response time. Place of 2D material-based detectors in the near future in a wide infrared detector family is predicted in the final conclusions.

Infrared (IR) reflectography has been used for many years for the detection of underdrawings on panel paintings. Advances in the fields of IR sensors and optics have impelled the wide spread use of IR reflectography by several recognized Art Museums and specialized laboratories around the World. The transparency or opacity of a painting is the result of a complex combination of the optical properties of the painting pigments and the underdrawing material, as well as the type of illumination source and the sensor characteristics. For this reason, recent researches have been directed towards the study of multispectral approaches that could provide simultaneous and complementary information of an artwork. The present work relies on non−simultaneous multispectral inspection using a set of detectors covering from the ultraviolet to the terahertz spectra. It is observed that underdrawings contrast increases with wavelength up to 1700 nm and, then, gradually decreases. In addition, it is shown that IR thermography, i.e., temperature maps or thermograms, could be used simultaneously as an alternative technique for the detection of underdrawings besides the detection of subsurface defects.

Terahertz (THz) transmission, photoresistance, and electrical conductivity experiments were carried out at 4.2 K on a sample with modulation-doped CdTe/Cd _1-xMg _xTe multiple quantum wells. The measurements were carried out as a function of a magnetic field B up to 9 T and a radiation frequency between 0.1 and 0.66 THz. A broad minimum in the transmission curve was observed at magnetic fields corresponding to the cyclotron resonance at given THz frequency which was followed at larger fields by an oscillatory signal, periodic in B ⁻¹. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations were observed in magnetoconductivity and in photoresistance. Each of these experimental signals revealed the same electron concentration equal to (1.01 ± 0.03) ∙1012 cm ⁻². THz spectroscopy results are compared with data obtained on a single quantum well and are discussed from the point of view of using such multiple quantum wells as THz optical elements.

High-power terahertz sources operating at room-temperature are promising for many applications such as explosive materials detection, non-invasive medical imaging, and high speed telecommunication. Here we report the results of a simulation study, which shows the significantly improved performance of room-temperature terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz QCLs) based on a ZnMgO/ZnO material system employing a 2-well design scheme with variable barrier heights and a delta-doped injector well. We found that by varying and optimizing constituent layer widths and doping level of the injector well, high power performance of THz QCLs can be achieved at room temperature: optical gain and radiation frequency is varied from 108 cm⁻¹ @ 2.18 THz to 300 cm⁻¹ @ 4.96 THz. These results show that among II–VI compounds the ZnMgO/ZnO material system is optimally suited for high-performance room-temperature THz QCLs.