arXiv subjects

Wilder Acuna

Publications and source records attributed to Wilder Acuna.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Hybrid terahertz emitter for pulse shaping and chirality control

Terahertz (THz) radiation, spanning from 0.3 to 3x10^12 Hz, fills the crucial gap between the microwave and infrared spectral range. THz technology has found applications in various fields, from imaging and sensing to telecommunication and biosensing. However, the full potential of these applications is often hindered by the need for precise control and manipulation of the frequency and polarization state, which typically requires external THz modulators. Here, we demonstrate a hybrid THz source that overcomes this limitation. Our device consists of two THz emitters integrated into one single device, enabling pulse shaping and chirality control of the emitted radiation without additional external components. The two sources are a spintronic emitter and a semiconductor photoconductive antenna (PCA). Using a combination of dual-wavelength excitation, allowing for control of the relative time delay between the two laser excitation pulses, and tuning external parameters for each emitter (i.e., biasing voltage for the PCA and magnetic field for the spintronic THz emitter) enables precise control of the mixing of the two signals and results in frequency, polarization, and chirality control of the overall THz radiation. This on-chip hybrid emitter provides an essential platform for engineered THz radiation with wide-ranging potential applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Bi2Se3 Growth on (001) GaAs Substrates for Terahertz Integrated Systems

Terahertz (THz) technologies have been of interest for many years due to the variety of applications including gas sensing, nonionizing imaging of biological systems, security and defense, etc. To date, scientists have used different classes of materials to perform different THz functions. However, to assemble an on-chip THz integrated system, we must understand how to integrate these different materials. Here, we explore the growth of Bi2Se3, a topological insulator (TI) material that could serve as a plasmonic waveguide in THz integrated devices, on technologically-important GaAs (001) substrates. We explore surface treatments and find that atomically smooth GaAs surface is critical to achieving high-quality Bi2Se3 films despite the relatively weak film/substrate interaction. Calculations indicate that the Bi2Se3/GaAs interface is likely selenium-terminated and shows no evidence of chemical bonding between the Bi2Se3 and the substrate. These results are a guide for integrating van der Waals materials with conventional semiconductor substrates and serve as the first steps toward achieving an on-chip THz integrated system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Strong coupling between a topological insulator and a III-V heterostructure at terahertz frequency

We probe theoretically the emergence of strong coupling in a system consisting of a topological insulator (TI) and a III-V heterostructure using a numerical approach based on the scattering matrix formalism. Specifically, we investigate the interactions between terahertz excitations in a structure composed of Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ and GaAs materials. We find that the interaction between the Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ layer and AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells with intersubband transitions (ISBTs) in the terahertz frequency regime creates new hybrid modes, namely Dirac plasmon-phonon-ISBT polaritons. The formation of these hybrid modes results in anti-crossings (spectral mode splitting) whose magnitude is an indication of the strength of the coupling. By varying the structural parameters of the constituent materials, our numerical calculations reveal that the magnitude of splitting depends strongly on the doping level and the scattering rate in the AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells, as well as on the thickness of the GaAs spacer layer that separates the quantum-well structure from the TI layer. Our results reveal the material and device parameters required to obtain experimentally-observable signatures of strong coupling. Our model includes the contribution of an extra two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) that is predicted to arise at the Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$/GaAs interface, based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations that explicitly account for details of the atomic terminations at the interface. The presence of this massive 2DHG at the TI/III-V interface shifts the dispersion of the Dirac plasmon-ISBT polaritons to higher frequencies. The damping rate at this interface, in contrast, compensates the effect of the 2DHG. Finally, we observe that the phonon resonances in the TI layer are crucial to the coupling between the THz excitations in the TI and III-V materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Growth of Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 Particles on GaAs via Droplet Epitaxy

The discovery of topological insulators (TIs) and their unique electronic properties has motivated research into a variety of applications, including quantum computing. It has been proposed that TI surface states will be energetically discretized in a quantum dot nanoparticle. These discretized states could then be used as basis states for a qubit that is more resistant to decoherence. In this work, prototypical TI Bi2Se3 nanoparticles are grown on GaAs (001) using the droplet epitaxy technique, and we demonstrate the control of nanoparticle height, area, and density by changing the duration of bismuth deposition and substrate temperature. Within the growth window studied, nanoparticles ranged from 5-15 nm tall with an 8-18nm equivalent circular radius, and the density could be relatively well controlled by changing the substrate temperature and bismuth deposition time.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗