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Wladislaw Michailow

Publications and source records attributed to Wladislaw Michailow.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Strong photoresponse of edge two-dimensional electrons in a magnetic field

Electrons in two-dimensional electron gases in the presence of an out-of-plane magnetic field propagate along the edge with a high velocity of the order of the Fermi velocity. Under microwave and terahertz radiation, photon absorption by these electrons provides a pathway to realising sensitive radiation detection. Here, we develop a detailed quantum theory of the photocurrent generated in such a system by an incident electromagnetic wave and propose an experimental geometry for observing the predicted phenomenon. By using suitably arranged radiation confinement structures, a strong photocurrent generation efficiency can be obtained. We also demonstrate that the resulting photoresponse in III-V semiconductor structures can be orders of magnitude higher than that measured in graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Achieving 100% amplitude modulation depth in a graphene-based tuneable capacitance metamaterial

Effective control of terahertz radiation requires the development of efficient and fast modulators with a large modulation depth. This challenge is often tackled by using metamaterials, artificial sub-wavelength optical structures engineered to resonate at the desired terahertz frequency. Metamaterial-based devices exploiting graphene as the active tuneable element have been proven to be a highly effective solution for THz modulation. However, whilst the graphene conductivity can be tuned over a wide range, it cannot be reduced to zero due to the gapless nature of graphene, which directly limits the maximum achievable modulation depth for single-layer metamaterial modulators. Here, we demonstrate two novel solutions to circumvent this restriction: Firstly, we excite the modulator from the back of the substrate, and secondly, we incorporate air gaps into the graphene patches. This results in a ground-breaking graphene-metal metamaterial terahertz modulator, operating at 2.0-2.5 THz, which demonstrates a 99.01 % amplitude and a 99.99 % intensity modulation depth at 2.15 THz, with a reconfiguration speed in excess of 3 MHz. Our results open up new frontiers in the area of terahertz technology.

physics.optics

An in-plane photoelectric effect in two-dimensional electron systems for terahertz detection

The photoelectric effect consists in the photoexcitation of electrons above a potential barrier at a material interface and is exploited for photodetection over a wide frequency range. This three-dimensional process has an inherent inefficiency: photoexcited electrons gain momenta predominantly parallel to the interface, while to leave the material they have to move perpendicular to it. Here, we report on the discovery of an in-plane photoelectric effect occurring within a two-dimensional electron gas. In this purely quantum-mechanical, scattering-free process, photo-electron momenta are perfectly aligned with the desired direction of motion. The "work function" is artificially created and tunable in-situ. The phenomenon is utilized to build a direct terahertz detector, which yields a giant zero-bias photoresponse that exceeds the predictions by known mechanisms by more than 10-fold. This new aspect of light-matter interaction in two-dimensional systems paves the way towards a new class of highly efficient photodetectors covering the entire terahertz range.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Triggering InAs/GaAs Quantum Dot nucleation and growth rate determination by in-situ modulation of surface energy

Epitaxial InAs/GaAs Quantum Dots (QDs) are widely used as highly efficient and pure sources of single photons and entangled photon-pairs, however reliable wafer-scale growth techniques have proved elusive. Growth of two-dimensional Quantum Well (QW) thin-films can be achieved with atomic precision down to below the de Broglie wavelength of electrons in the material, exposing the quantum particle-in-a-box energy vs. thickness-squared relationship. However, difficulties in controlling the exact moment of nanostructure nucleation obscure this behaviour in epitaxial QD material, preventing a clear understanding of their growth. In this work we demonstrate that QD nucleation can be induced by directly modulating the crystal surface energy without additional materials or equipment. This gains us quantitative measure of the QD growth rate and enables predictive design of QD growth processes. We believe this technique will be crucial to the realisation of uniform arrays of QDs required for scalable quantum devices at the single-photon level.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci