Abstract-Observation of anomalously strong penetration of terahertz electric field through terahertz-opaque gold films into a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well

S. D. Ganichev, S. N. Danilov, M. Kronseder, D. Schuh, I. Gronwald, D. Bougeard, E. L. Ivchenko, A. Ya. Shul'man

https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.06623

We observe an anomalously high electric field of terahertz (THz) radiation acting on a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) placed beneath a thin gold film, which, however, is supposed to be opaque at THz frequencies. We show that the anomalously strong penetration of the THz electric field through a very high conductive gold film emerges if two conditions are fulfilled simultaneously: (i) the film's thickness is less than the skin depth and (ii) the THz electric field is measured beneath the film at distances substantially smaller than the radiation wavelength. We demonstrate that under these conditions the strength of the field acting on a 2DEG is almost the same as it would be in the absence of the gold film. The effect is detected for macroscopically homogeneous perforation-free gold films illuminated by THz-laser radiation with a spot smaller than the film area. This eliminates the near-field of the edge diffraction as a possible cause of the anomalous penetration. The microscopic origin of the effect remains unexplained in its details, yet. The observed effect can be used for the development of THz devices based on two-dimensional materials requiring robust highly conducting top gates placed at less than nanometer distance from the electron gas location.

Abstract-Infrared/terahertz spectra of the photogalvanic effect in (Bi,Sb)Te based three-dimensional topological insulators

H. Plank, J. Pernul, S. Gebert, S. N. Danilov, J. König-Otto, S. Winnerl, M. Lanius, J. Kampmeier, G. Mussler, I. Aguilera, D. Grützmacher, and S. D. Ganichev

https://journals.aps.org/prmaterials/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024202

We report on the systematic study of infrared/terahertz spectra of photocurrents in (Bi,Sb)Te based three-dimensional topological insulators. We demonstrate that in a wide range of frequencies, ranging from fractions up to tens of terahertz, the photocurrent is caused by the linear photogalvanic effect (LPGE) excited in the surface states. The photocurrent spectra reveal that at low frequencies the LPGE emerges due to free carrier Drude-like absorption. The spectra allow us to determine the room temperature carrier mobilities in the surface states despite the presence of thermally activated residual impurities in the material bulk. In a number of samples we observed an enhancement of the linear photogalvanic effect at frequencies between 30 and 60 THz, which is attributed to the excitation of electrons from helical surface to bulk conduction band states. Under this condition and applying oblique incidence we also observed the circular photogalvanic effect driven by the radiation helicity.

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Abstract-Detection of highly conductive surface electron states in topological crystalline insulators Pb1−xSnxSe using laser terahertz radiation

• S. G. Egorova,
• V. I. Chernichkin,
• L. I. Ryabova,
• E. P. Skipetrov,
• L. V. Yashina,
• S. N. Danilov,
• S. D. Ganichev
• & D. R. Khokhlov

http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150622/srep11540/full/srep11540.html

We suggest a method for detection of highly conductive surface electron states including topological ones. The method is based on measurements of the photoelectromagnetic effect using terahertz laser pulses. In contrast to conventional transport measurements, the method is not sensitive to the bulk conductivity. The method is demonstrated on an example of topological crystalline insulators Pb1−xSnxSe. It is shown that highly conductive surface electron states are present in Pb1−xSnxSe both in the inverse and direct electron energy spectrum.