Carbon nanotubes for polarization sensitive terahertz plasmonic interferometry

Abstract

We report on helicity sensitive photovoltaic terahertz radiation response of a carbon nanotube made in a configuration of a field-effect transistor. We find that the magnitude of the rectified voltage is different for clockwise and anticlockwise circularly polarized radiation. We demonstrate that this effect is a fingerprint of the plasma waves interference in the transistor channel. We also find that the presence of the helicity- and phase-sensitive interference part of the photovoltaic response is a universal phenomenon which is obtained in the systems of different dimensionality with different single-particle spectrum. Its magnitude is a characteristic of the plasma wave decay length. This opens up a wide avenue for applications in the area of plasmonic interferometry.