Study of photoexcited-carrier dynamics in GaAs
photoconductive switches using dynamic
terahertz emission microscopy
Hironaru Murakami,* Shogo Fujiwara, Iwao Kawayama, and Masayoshi Tonouchi
Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, 2-6 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
*Corresponding author: hiro@ile.osaka‑u.ac.jp
Received February 4, 2016; revised March 25, 2016; accepted March 29, 2016;
posted April 1, 2016 (Doc. ID 258673); published May 13, 2016
We propose dynamic terahertz (THz) emission microscopy (DTEM) to visualize temporal–spatial dynamics of
photoexcited carriers in electronic materials. DTEM utilizes THz pulses emitted from a sample by probe pulses
irradiated after pump pulse irradiation to perform time-resolved two-dimensional mapping of the THz pulse emis-
sion, reflecting various carrier dynamics. Using this microscopy, we investigated carrier dynamics in the gap re-
gion of low-temperature-grown GaAs and semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive switches of the identical-dipole
type. The observed DTEM images are well explained by the change in the electric potential distribution between
the electrodes caused by the screening effect of the photoexcited electron-hole pairs. © 2016 Chinese Laser Press
OCIS codes: (110.6795) Terahertz imaging; (320.7120) Ultrafast phenomena.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/PRJ.4.0000A9
1. INTRODUCTION
The development of high-speed optoelectronic devices is nec-
essary for obtaining advanced information in the near future.
For the development of such devices, evaluation of the ultra-
fast dynamics of photoexcited carriers is indispensable [1–8].
Several methods using the optical pump-and-probe technique
are employed for this purpose [8–17]. Among these, optical
pump-and-probe terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy
(PPTS) can evaluate the dynamics of photoexcited carriers
in the vicinity of the surface of electrical materials and devices
[16,17]. However, PPTS can investigate the ultrafast carrier
dynamics only in a local area irradiated by optical pump-
and-probe pulses.
On the other hand, the laser THz emission microscope
(LTEM) is a novel THz imaging tool that directly captures
two-dimensional images showing the amplitude of THz pulses
emitted from a sample by femtosecond optical pulse irradia-
tion [18–20]. The LTEM can be applied to various electronic
materials and devices that emit THz pulses by femtosecond
optical pulse irradiation. LTEM enables the visualization of
the electric-field distribution in a sample because the ampli-
tude of the THz pulse is almost proportional to the local elec-
tric field at the femtosecond optical pulse irradiation spot.
Photoexcited carriers are accelerated by the local electric
field and emit a THz pulse because of the ultrafast current
modulation, according to the classical formula of electrody-
namics:
E
THz
∝∂J∕∂t; (1)
where E
THz
is the radiated electric field in the far-field
approximation, and J is the photoinduced current.
Another unique feature of the LTEM is its spatial resolution,
which is determined by the femtosecond laser-beam spot size
and not by the THz wavelength. Therefore, it is possible to
obtain an LTEM image with a sub-micrometer resolution [20].
In the present study, we propose dynamic THz emission
microscopy (DTEM), which has an unprecedented high
function associating the LTEM with PPTS, and demonstrate
its superior performance via the experimentally obtained
spatiotemporal photoexcited-carrier dynamics in a low-
temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) photoconductive antenna
(PCA) and a semi-insulating GaAs (SI-GaAs) PCA.
2. EXPERIMENTAL
In the DTEM measurement, there are two ways to irradiate
pump pulses to a sample. One is to irradiate the pump and
probe pulses at the same position by scanning both pulses
over the sample surface simultaneously. Another is to irradi-
ate the pump pulses in a fixed area to be investigated while
scanning the probe pulses over the sample surface. In the
present study, the latter approach was adopted to observe
the dynamics of the photoexcited carriers generated by pump
pulse irradiation in the gap region of the GaAs PCA; moreover,
the amplitude of a THz pulse excited by a focused probe pulse
was measured and mapped as a function of the probe position
by changing the time delay between the pump and probe
pulses in the DTEM measurements. Therefore, the probe
pulses were optically chopped for the lock-in detection of
the THz pulse. In imaging, the delay stage for the probe pulses
was fixed at the peak position of the time-domain waveform of
the THz pulse, and the focused probe pulses were scanned
over the sample surface by using a galvanometer. Thus,
we observed the temporal–spatial electric-field distribution
induced by photoexcited carriers through the pump pulse
irradiation with a time resolution corresponding to the femto-
second pulse width.
Murakami et al. Vol. 4, No. 3 / June 2016 / Photon. Res. A9
2327-9125/16/0300A9-07 © 2016 Chinese Laser Press