Norton Equivalent Circuit for Pulsed Photoconductive Antennas-Part I

Norton Equivalent Circuit for Pulsed Photoconductive Antennas-Part I: Theoretical Model

Garufo, A. (TU Delft Tera-Hertz Sensing)
Carluccio, G. (TU Delft Tera-Hertz Sensing)
Llombart, Nuria (TU Delft Tera-Hertz Sensing)
Neto, A. (TU Delft Tera-Hertz Sensing)

2018

A novel equivalent circuit for pulsed photoconductive sources is introduced for describing the coupling between the photoconductive gap and the antenna. The proposed circuit effectively describes the mechanism of feeding the antenna by the semiconductor when this latter is illuminated by a laser operating in a pulsed mode. Starting from the classical continuity equation, which models the free carriers' density with respect to the laser power pump and the semiconductor features, a Norton equivalent circuit in the frequency domain is derived. According to the Norton theorem, the equivalent source representation is decoupled from the antenna. In particular, for photoconductive antennas (PCAs), the Norton circuit takes into account of the electrical and optical properties of the semiconductor material, the features of the laser excitation, as well as the geometrical dimensions of the gap. The presence of the electrodes around the gap is part of the antenna and, therefore, it is taken into account in the antenna impedance. The proposed circuit allows the analysis of the coupling between the photoconductive source and the antenna, providing a tool to analyze and design PCAs.

Equivalent circuit
photoconductivity
terahertz (THz) photoconductive antenna (PCA)
THz radiated power
THz source
THz technology

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5c6fb2e6-5626-4468-8ba1-717f0e9a2a05

https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2018.2800524

0018-926X

IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 66 (4), 1635-1645

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 A. Garufo, G. Carluccio, Nuria Llombart, A. Neto