Advances in 1550-nm driven THz, GaAs photoconductive switches

Ultrafast photoconductive switches were fabricated from GaAs embedded with ErAs nanoparticles and tested in two antenna types: a self-complementary square spiral, and a slot antenna designed for half-wave resonance at 567 GHz. These devices are designed for driving with 1550nm lasers. At least ~46 μW of THz average power was generated from the spiral, and ~5 μW from the resonant slot. This is the first demonstration of a 1550-nm-driven GaAs:ErAs THz source in a resonant antenna.