Generation and detection of ultrabroadband Terahertz radiation with photoconductive antennas

Abstract

We report the generation and detection of ultrabroadband THz radiation using photoconductive antennas as the emitter and the detector. The photoconductive antenna showed a detection bandwidth as broad as the electro-optic sampling detectors. On the other hand, the photoconductive emitter showed a spectral bandwidth much narrower than that of the electro-optic emitters. We discuss the bandwidth properties of the photoconductive emitters and detectors in comparison with their electro-optic counterparts.