Nanowerk, June 15, 2023
Several technologies could benefit from the availability of fast and controllable conversion of terahertz light to visible light. An international team of researchers (Germany, Spain, UK) demonstrated that the exceptional properties and dynamics of electronic heat in graphene allow for a THz-to-visible conversion, which is switchable at a sub-nanosecond time scale. They showed a tunable on/off ratio of more than 30 for the emitted visible light, achieved through electrical gating using a gate voltage on the order of 1 V and that a grating-graphene metamaterial leads to an increase in THz-induced emitted power in the visible range by 2 orders of magnitude. The experimental results agree with a thermodynamic model that describes blackbody radiation from the electron system heated through intraband Drude absorption of THz light. According to the researchers their results provide a promising route toward novel functionalities of optoelectronic technologies in the THz regime… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Graphical abstract. Credit: Nano Lett. 2023, 23, 9, 3872–3878, April 28, 2023Â