Investigation of Terahertz Spectra of Electrically Driven Two-

Dimensional Plasmons in Grating-Gated AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures

2022 47th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz) | 978-1-7281-9427-1/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/IRMMW-THz50927.2022.9895517

Daniil Pashnev1, Roman M. Balagula1, Maksym Dub2, Maciej Sakowicz2, Justinas Jorudas1,
Vytautas. Janonis1, Liudvikas Subačius1, Pavlo Sai2, Grzegorz Cywinski2, and Irmantas Kašalynas1
1
THz photonics laboratory, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius, Lithuania
2
CENTERA Laboratories, Institute of High Pressure Physics PAS, Warsaw, Poland

Abstract—Terahertz (THz) spectra of electrically driven two- detailed analysis.

dimensional (2D) plasmons in grating-gated AlGaN/GaN high- The emission spectrum of the plasmonic sample with grating
electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structure were investigated period of 800 nm is shown in Fig. 1, by black line. Notably,
in emission and transmission geometry at the temperature of 80 K.
only 2D plasmon-related resonant features are visible in the
The 2D plasmon resonances were observed in the frequency range
of 1-3 THz. The resonance position and intensity were found to be spectrum, without black-body radiation of the sample and
related to the grating period and the bias voltage applied to the without the electroluminescence of impurities owing to the
transistor terminals. successful optimization of the HEMT structures employed [1].
The peak position and the full width at half maximum (FWHM)
I. INTRODUCTION were found at about 58 ± 2 cm-1 (1.7 THz) and 17 ± 4 cm-1,
respectively, resulting in the quality factor Q ≈ 3.4.
E LECTRICAL robustness, high electron mobility, and
temperature stability of III-nitride heterostructures serve as
a base for the development of tunable frequency THz emitters
[1]. Some emission results have been obtained earlier [2], [3],
but they are still far from commercially viable devices. The
graphene-based plasmonic metamaterial for THz laser
transistors was proposed recently [4]. In this work, we
investigated the emission and absorption spectra of the 2D
plasmons excited in THz range in grating-gated AlGaN/GaN
HEMT structures at liquid nitrogen temperature.
II. RESULTS
The plasmonic samples were fabricated by positioning
periodic metal stripes on top surface of AlGaN/GaN/SiC
HEMT structures over an area of about 2 × 2 mm2 (see inset in
Fig. 1). Three gate-gratings were prepared in the same process
on the 10x10 mm2 sample to minimize fabrication uncertainties
and ensure the uniformity of material parameters over the
different gratings. The periods of the gratings with filling factor
of 50 % were selected to be 600 nm, 800 nm, and 1000 nm Fig. 1 Measured emission (black line) and absorption (red line) spectra at 80 K
enabling the excitation of fundamental 2D plasmon modes in for the plasmonic sample with grating period of 800 nm. Inset: photograph of
the frequency range of 1-3 THz [5]. The 800 nm period gratings plasmonic sample with arrangement of transistor contacts (A, B, G, H stand for
interdigitated gates, S and D – for source and drain, respectively).
were investigated in this work in order to find optimal
conditions for excitation of 2D plasmons. The ohmic source, S, The THz transmission spectra of the plasmonic samples were
and drain, D, contacts to the conductive 2DEG channel were also investigated for comparison purpose. The resonant
developed outside of the grating, the wave vector of which was frequency of the 2D plasmons was found to be proportional to
oriented perpendicularly to the contacts as described elsewhere the grating period and the density of 2D electrons located in
[3]. Electrical pulses with a duration up to 100 ms were applied grating-gated HEMT structures. The absorption spectra of
to the lateral S and D terminals while monitoring the current plasmonic samples with different grating periods were found by
and voltage traces on oscilloscope, and the intensity of THz taking a logarithm of respective transmission spectra reported
radiation was registered by a LHe-cooled Si bolometer and elsewhere [5].
lock-in amplifier. The emission spectra were measured by using The absorption spectrum of the same sample with reduced
a 3 ms duration and 50 % duty cycle meander pulses with an resolution (without Fabry–Perot fringes) is shown in Fig. 1, by
amplitude of up to 20 V. The THz beam radiated from the red line. Here, a fundamental mode of the 2D plasmon
sample at liquid nitrogen temperature was collected by a 5 cm resonance was found at similar frequency of 58.4 ± 0.8 cm-1 but
off-axis parabolic mirror for spectra measurements by a with different values for FWHM = 11.3 ± 0.5 cm-1 and Q = 5.2.
vacuum Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (Bruker 80V) Notably, the quality factor of the 2D plasmon resonance was
operating in step-scan mode. Lock-in amplifier with time relatively small, however, its value in the transmission
constant of 1 s was used to record signals to computer for spectrum was higher than that in the emission spectrum.

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 In addition, the Rabi splitting of 2D plasmon resonance was
observed in the emission spectrum. The splitting value of
11.5 cm-1 (345 GHz) was found to be much larger than
previously reported in the plasmonic samples developed on
AlGaN/GaN heterostructures [6]. Frequency shift of the
experimentally observed 2D plasmon resonance position to
smaller frequencies with increase in the grating period and its
amplitude modulation with the increase in bias voltage applied
to S-D terminals were observed, nature of which requires
further research.
To conclude, we have found the optimal conditions for
excitation of 2D plasmons in emission and absorption spectra
of grating-gated AlGaN/GaN/SiC HEMT structures at the
temperature of 80 K by employing the grating period and filling
factor of 800 nm and 50 %, respectively. The plasmon
resonance was observed at the frequency of about 1.7 THz
demonstrating relatively small quality factor, value of which
was found to be higher in the transmission spectrum than that
in the emission spectrum. Moreover, the Rabi splitting of 2D
plasmon resonance of 345 GHz size was found in the emission
spectrum only.
This work received funding from the Research Council of
Lithuania (Lietuvos mokslo taryba) through project “Hybrid
plasmonic components for THz range (T-HP)” under Grant No.
01.2.2-LMT-K-718-03-0096 and was supported by CENTERA
Laboratories in frame of the International Research Agendas
program for the Foundation for Polish Sciences co-financed by
the European Union under the European Regional Development
Fund (No. MAB/2018/9).
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