Terahertz emission from the surfaces of InAs and other narrow-gap semiconductors

Abstract

THz pulses were used to investigate carrier dynamics in narrow-gap semiconductors. The measurement of the optically induced THz pulse absorption transients provided important insights into electron energy relaxation in the conduction band. In the second set of experiments, THz generation from the surfaces of various semiconductors was studied and compared. It was found that the most efficient THz emitters are semiconductors with a narrow band gap, large intervalley separation in the conduction band, and low nonparabolicity of the main valley.