Thermal and Nonlinear Dynamics in Terahertz Spintronic Emitters and Electro-Optic Detection

We report two complementary investigations of terahertz (THz) systems that reveal fundamental thermal and nonlinear optical behaviors relevant to spintronic terahertz emitters (STEs) and electro-optic sampling (EOS) detection in ZnTe. First, we use optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy to measure electron temperature dynamics in STEs. Second, we analyze nonlinearities in ZnTe induced by high-field THz radiation using terahertz-pump terahertz-probe techniques. Our results provide critical insight into thermal management and detection limits in THz spectroscopy.