A 63-Pixel Plasmonic Photoconductive Terahertz Focal-Plane Array

Abstract

We present a 63-pixel photoconductive terahertz focal-plane array based on arrays of plasmonic nano-antennas. The nano-antennas are designed to offer both broadband and high-sensitivity terahertz detection. A diffuser is used to efficiently focus the optical pump beam onto the active area of each pixel of the focal-plane array. The detected terahertz signal from each pixel is collected by a programmable FPGA-based readout circuit. We experimentally demonstrate more than a 60 dB signal-to-noise ratio and a 2 THz bandwidth for all of the pixels in the terahertz focal-plane array.