Superconducting THz sources with 12% power efficiency

Abstract

Low power efficiency is one of the main problems of THz sources, colloquially known as the THz gap. In this work we present prototypes of THz devices based on whisker-crystals of a hightemperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d with a record high radiation power efficiency of 12% at a frequency of 4 THz. We employ various on- and off-chip detection techniques and, in particular, use the radiative cooling phenomenon for accurate evaluation of the emission power. We argue that such devices can be used for creation of tunable, monochromatic, continuous-wave, compact and power-efficient THz sources.

6 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Octave-spanning semiconductor laser
• Temperature dependence of the bulk energy gap in underdoped Bi-2212: Evidence for the mean-field superconducting transition
• THz emission from a stacked coherent flux-flow oscillator: non-local radiative boundary conditions and the role of geometrical resonances
• Direct visualization of phase-locking of large Josephson junction arrays by surface electromagnetic waves

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Nonlocal long-range synchronization of planar Josephson junction arrays
• Design aspects of Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+\delta }$ THz sources: optimization of thermal and radiative properties
• Terahertz emission from mutually synchronized standalone Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x intrinsic-Josephson-junction stacks
• Resonant switching current detector based on underdamped Josephson junctions
• Polarization analysis of terahertz emission from Bi-2212 cross-whisker intrinsic Josephson junction and its refractive index
• A distributed, active patch antenna model of a Josephson oscillator
• Cascade switching current detectors based on arrays of Josephson junctions
• Terahertz amplifiers based on gain reflectivity in cuprate superconductors