Characterization of Sub-THz Photonic-Transmitters Based on GaAs-AlGaAs Uni-Traveling-Carrier Photodiodes and Substrate-Removed Broadband Antennas for Impulse-Radio Communication

• Published in: IEEE photonics technology letters Vol. 20; no. 16; pp. 1342 - 1344
• Main Authors: Yu-Tai Li, Shi, J.-W., Cheng-Yu Huang, Nan-Wei Chen, Shu-Han Chen, Chyi, J.-I., Ci-Ling Pan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 15.08.2008; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Broadband antennas; Monolithic integrated circuits; Photoconducting devices; Photodiodes; Photonic transmitter (PT); Space vector pulse width modulation; Spectroscopy; submillimeter-wave; terahertz (THz); Time domain analysis; Transmitters; Transmitting antennas; uni-traveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD)
• ISSN: 1041-1135; 1941-0174
• DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2008.926855

A novel photonic transmitter for wireless terahertz (THz) impulse-radio (IR) communication is realized by monolithic integration of a GaAs-AlGaAs-based uni-traveling-carrier (UTC) photodiode with a substrate-removed broadband antenna. The device can radiate strong sub-THz pulses (20-mW peak-power) with a narrow pulsewidth (<2 ps) and wide bandwidth (100 ~ 250 GHz). The maximum average power emitted by our device, under the same THz time-domain spectroscopic setup, is around ten times higher than that of the low-temperature-grown GaAs-based photoconductive antenna, while with a much lower dc bias (9 versus 35 V). The bias-dependent peak output powers of our devices suggest their suitability for application as a data modulator/emitter for photonic THz IR communication.