Igal Brener
Sandia National Laboratories and
Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies,
Terahertz
semiconductor lasers, receivers and metamaterials
The invention of the quantum cascade
laser (QCL) in general and QCLs operating at terahertz frequencies
(THz) in
particular have been fueling the development of solid-state devices at
a
wavelength range where bulky and power hungry sources and detectors
still
dominate. In this talk I will review recent developments in THz quantum
cascade
lasers and their use in integrated-solid state heterodyne receivers.
Also, the
implementation of metamaterials operating at these frequencies is
starting to
enable new devices that were not possible just a few years ago, such as
modulators, filters and non-reciprocal devices. I will discuss the
physics and
applications of these THz metamaterial-based devices, and new
directions such
as sensors and novel fabrication of metamaterials.