Waveguide-integrated photoconductive THz receivers

We present the first waveguide-integrated photoconductive antennas (PCA) for continuous-wave (cw) terahertz (THz) detection. The PCAs consisting of an InGaAs photoconductor mesa and a bow-tie antenna are equipped with an on-chip edge-coupled passive optical waveguide. Compared to state-of-the-art top-illuminated PCAs, the novel receivers show an improved frequency up to 2 THz and a total bandwidth of 4 THz. Moreover, these newly developed THz receivers open the door towards compact and low-cost fully integrated photonic THz systems that can be implemented in various industrial applications such as spectroscopy and communications.