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Development of compact THz systems for the future

Prototyp, developed in Marburg, of a compact and cost-efficient THz-system based on semiconductors. The whole data recording and control of the system was realized by a combination of RaspberryPI and a soundcard.

The young field of THz-technology grows rapidly for some years. This is based on successes in basic research, which would not have been possible without the exploration of this frequency area. The binding energy of excitons corresponds to the energy spectrum of THz-radiation and therefore allows measurement of exciton building time. Another growth engine is the use of THz-systems in industrial applications for nondestructive examinations of materials. Examples are the measurement of paper thickness, the hardening process of glued plastics and the measurement of the wall thickness of extruded pipes. An important step towards the development of compact THz-systems was achieved by our research group through the combination of femtosecond fiber-lasers with the fast semiconductor material InGaAs/InAlAs in photo-conductive antennas. Since then we work on THz-systems, which don´t depend on fiber-lasers but can be operated directly with semiconductor lasers.

For your thesis, you are supposed to research new concepts, which improve the performance of semiconductor-based THz-systems and therefore become competitive compared to other established technologies. It is our aim to develop technology for future THz-systems. Thereby you learn the use of optoelectronic components, the conception of optical setups and the use of optical and electrical measurement technology.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Martin Koch