Dual-Band and integrated detectors for submillimetre applications

The first part of this work is focused on the design of compact and affordable integrated multi-band detectors in the terahertz range. The proposed receivers are designed to obtain information of different spectral ranges in a single measurement, reducing instrument cost, size, weight, and power consumption. To this aim, two dual-band direct detectors are proposed. The first one integrates the submillimetre wave range and the IR range, whilst the second one is intended to operate at the millimetre and submillimetre wave ranges. The second part of this work merge concepts and technologies from both, electronics and photonics domains and may be a good starting point for the creation of new silicon integrated heterodyne detectors.

THz radiation sensors

In the paper, issues associated with the development and exploitation of terahertz (THz) radiation detectors are discussed. The paper is written for those readers who desire an analysis of the latest developments in different type of THz radiation sensors (detectors), which play an increasing role in different areas of human activity (e.g., security, biological, drugs and explosions detection, imaging, astronomy applications, etc.). The basic physical phenomena and the recent progress in both direct and heterodyne detectors are discussed. More details concern Schottky barrier diodes, pair braking detectors, hot electron mixers, and field-effect transistor detectors. Also the operational conditions of THz detectors and their upper performance limits are discussed.