The ability to convert light into an electrical signal with high efficiencies and controllable dynamics, is a major need in photonics and optoelectronics. In the Terahertz (THz) frequency range, with its exceptional application possibilities in high data rate wireless communications, security, night-vision, biomedical or video-imaging and gas sensing, detection technologies providing efficiency and sensitivity performances that can be "engineered" from scratch, remain elusive. Here, by exploiting the inherent electrical and thermal in-plane anisotropy of a flexible thin flake of black-phosphorus (BP), we devise plasma-wave, thermoelectric and bolometric nano-detectors with a selective, switchable and controllable operating mechanism. All devices operates at room-temperature and are integrated on-chip with planar nanoantennas, which provide remarkable efficiencies through light-harvesting in the strongly sub-wavelength device channel. The achieved selective detection (∼5-8 V/W responsivity) and sensitivity performances (signal-to-noise ratio of 500), are here exploited to demonstrate the first concrete application of a phosphorus-based active THz device, for pharmaceutical and quality control imaging of macroscopic samples, in real-time and in a realistic setting.

Topological insulators (TIs) represent a novel quantum state of matter, characterized by edge or surface-states, showing up on the topological character of the bulk wave functions. Allowing electrons to move along their surface, but not through their inside, they emerged as an intriguing material platform for the exploration of exotic physical phenomena, somehow resembling the graphene Dirac-cone physics, as well as for exciting applications in optoelectronics, spintronics, nanoscience, low-power electronics, and quantum computing. Investigation of topological surface states (TSS) is conventionally hindered by the fact that in most of experimental conditions the TSS properties are mixed up with those of bulk-states. Here, we activate, probe, and exploit the collective electronic excitation of TSS in the Dirac cone. By engineering Bi2Te(3-x)Sex stoichiometry, and by gating the surface of nanoscale field-effect-transistors, exploiting thin flakes of Bi2Te2.2Se0.8 or Bi2Se3, we provide the first demonstration of room-temperature terahertz (THz) detection mediated by overdamped plasma-wave oscillations on the "activated" TSS of a Bi2Te2.2Se0.8 flake. The reported detection performances allow a realistic exploitation of TSS for large-area, fast imaging, promising superb impacts on THz photonics.

We present magnetotransport measurements performed on Cd3As2 samples. Our results confirm the existence of 3D Dirac fermions in this material with a π Berry phase. A metal-insulator transition driven by the magnetic field is also observed for B < 1 T. Finally the in situ rotation of the sample reveals that the Fermi surface is a weakly anisotropic ellipsoid.

We report on the intrinsic responsivity of an asymmetric dual-grating-gate plasmonic detector over 100 kV/W at 200 GHz and 50 kV/W at 300 GHz measured at room temperature with zero source-drain bias. We demonstrate that broadband characteristics of the responsivity depend much on the geometrical parameters of the detectors.

Diffractive optical elements such as hyperbolic lens and quasi-spherical lens converting a divergent terahertz beam into the focal line segment perpendicular to the optical axis was designed. Due to the fact that the length of the line segment was longer than the aperture of the designed elements the non-paraxial approach was used. The structures were designed for the narrowband application as kinoform elements. The theoretical approach, computer simulations and experimental results are presented. In the imaging system, the intensity of the radiation in the focal plane was measured by THz point-like detector based on InP heterojunction bipolar transistor.