Resonant frequencies of the two-dimensional plasma in field effect transistors (FETs) increase with the reduction of the channel dimensions and can reach the Terahertz (THz) range. Nonlinear properties of the plasma/electron gas in the transistor channel can be used for the rectification and detection of THz radiation. The excitation of plasma waves by sub-THz and THz radiation was demonstrated for short gate transistors at cryogenic temperatures. At room temperature plasma oscillations are usually overdamped, but the FETs can still operate as efficient broadband rectifiers/detectors in the THz range. We present a few recent experimental results on THz detection by FETs showing some new ways of improvement of FETs for THz imaging at room temperature as well as the new physical phenomena like detection in quantizing magnetic fields. We also demonstrate THz emission properties of GaN based FETs.

Magnetotransport and magnetooptics investigations of plasmon excitations in large-area grating-gate terahertz modulators based on AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors with different grating-gate duty cycle are reported. We demonstrate that the effect of the gate potential on the ungated region extends beyond the conventional fringing effect distance, ranging over 250-350 nm instead of expected 26-30 nm. This phenomenon enables excitation of the localized gated magnetoplasmon modes only if the inter-finger spacing in the grating gate exceeds 350 nm. For narrower slits, only the collective gated magnetoplasmon modes extending over the entire period of the structure can be excited.

We report on reflective electro-optic sampling measurements of TeraHertz emission from nanometer-gate-length InGaAs-based high electron mobility transistors. The room temperature coherent gate-voltage tunable emission is demonstrated. Our results shows that properly exciting nanotransistors can pave the way for new class of coherent and easily tunable THz sources. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

Possibilities and advantages of the electro-optical sampling (EDS) technique for the investigation of excitation of THz-range 2D plasma waves in FET/HEMT channels are considered both experimentally and theoretically. It is experimentally demonstrated that the EOS technique allows one to identify an excitation of 2D plasma waves in the HEMT channel under a given working point determined by external embedding circuits. Theoretical simulations show that the development of the instability of 2D plasma waves can be easily identified in the framework of the EOS technique.

Cyclotron resonance spectra of 2D electrons in HgTe/CdxHg1−xTe (0 1 3) quantum well (QW) heterostructures with inverted band structure have been thoroughly studied in quasiclassical magnetic fields versus the electron concentration varied using the persistent photoconductivity effect. The cyclotron mass is shown to increase with QW width in contrast to QWs with normal band structure. The measured values of cyclotron mass are shown to be systematically less than those calculated using the 8 × 8 Kane model with conventional set of HgTe and CdTe material parameters. In quantizing pulsed magnetic fields (Landau level filling factor less than unity) up to 45 T, both intraband (CR) and interband magnetoabsorption have been studied at radiation wavelengths 14.8 and 11.4 µm for the first time. The results obtained are compared with the allowed transition energies between Landau levels in the valence and conduction bands calculated within the same model, the calculated energies being again systematically less (by 3-14%) than the observed optical transition energies.

We report on investigations of photovoltaic response of Si-MOSFETs subjected to terahertz radiation in high magnetic fields. Then a DC drain-to-source voltage is developed that shows singularities in magnetic fields corresponding to paramagnetic resonance conditions. These singularities are investigated as a function of incident frequency, temperature and two-dimensional carrier density. We tentatively attribute these resonances to spin transitions of the electrons bound to Si dopants and discuss the possible physical mechanism of the photovoltaic signal generation

The current flowing in two-dimensional channel of field effect transistors can generate different types of charge density perturbations. They can have a form of uncorrelated hot plasmons or plasma waves. The mechanism of plasma wave generation depends on the parameter omega t and on boundary conditions of the channel. At omega t << 1 only hot plasmons can be generated. The THz emission due to radiative decay of hot plasmons has a broad spectrum and can be only poorly controlled by the transistor gate. The tunability of THz emission can be obtained in the case of the Dyakonov-Shur plasma wave instability. In this work we present experimental studies of THz emission in InGaP/InGaAs/GaAs and GaN/AlGaN based field effect transistors. We report on two types of emission onset: (i) a smooth one typical for hot plasmons generation and (ii) threshold-like one characteristic for plasma waves instabilities. The tunability and spectra of emission change depending on the transistor configuration. We discuss the results suggesting several possible mechanisms of plasma wave excitation.