Photonic Heterodyne Terahertz Receiver with a Usable IF Bandwidth of 40 GHz

Heterodyne photomixing terahertz (THz) receivers are essential components for photonic THz wireless links and radar applications. In this paper, we present a heterodyne THz receiver based on a waveguide-integrated photoconductive antenna (win-PCA). By designing on-chip electrical guiding structures and an intermediate frequency (IF) interposer, along with their associated transitions, we achieve a usable IF bandwidth of 40 GHz, coupled with a peak conversion gain of -23 dB, both of which are records for heterodyne photoconductive antenna receivers.