Leaky Lens Antenna as Optically Pumped Pulsed THz Emitter

Optically pumped pulsed THz emitters exploit the transient motion of photo-generated charge carriers in semiconductors, to produce, coupled to micro-antenna, radiated power over a wide bandwidth up to the THz frequencies. The radiation performance of the antenna greatly affects dispersion of the energy spectrum generated by the photoconductive source and if not properly designed it causes low radiated power. This work presents the design, the fabrication process, the electromagnetic and the thermal analyses of a pulsed photoconductive micro-antenna based on the leaky lens antenna concept. This device shows high radiation efficiency over a band ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 THz, thus being a suitable emitter for THz time-domain sensing system.