THz Emission in a Dual-Grating-Gate HEMT Promoted by the

Plasmonic Boom Instability

2021 46th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz) | 978-1-7281-9424-0/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/IRMMW-THz50926.2021.9567205

Tomotaka Hosotani1, Akira Satou1, and Taiichi Otsuji1

1
Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577, Japan

Abstract— We experimentally observed photomixed THz
emission from a dual-grating-gate high-electron-mobility
transistor under different bias conditions at 120 K with irradiating
photomixed dual-CW-IR laser beams. The observed emission
spectral peak frequencies meet well to the theoretical calculations
for plasmon mode frequencies, suggesting the photomixed THz
emission is amplified by the DC-current-driven plasmonic boom
type instability when the electron drift velocity exceeds the
plasmon velocity at the plasmon cavity boundary.
I. INTRODUCTION
VG2S, was set at −0.5 or −1.0 V to deplete the corresponding
channel regions. Under such bias conditions, the device was
excited with photomixed dual-IR CW laser irradiation whose
difference frequency δf was set around the plasmon mode
frequencies (Fig. 2). The THz emission was observed using a
Fourier-transform far-IR spectrometer with a 4.2-K cooled Si
bolometer.
We observed distinctive enhancement of THz emission
under specific δf conditions. The δf frequencies that gave
enhancement in THz emission differed between VG2S = −0.5

P LASMONIC instability is expected to be a promising

and −1.0 V (Fig. 3). The highest intensity emission with the
physical mechanism to realize terahertz (THz) primary peak at around 5.2 THz was obtained at δf = 2 THz.
emitters/oscillator devices [1]. In the previous work, we The second highest intensity emission with the primary peak
experimentally investigate the THz emission stimulated by the similar to the case at δf = 2 THz was obtained at δf = 5 THz.
plasmonic instabilities in an InGaAs-channel dual-grating-gate The other δf conditions at 3, 4, and 6 THz exhibited almost no
(DGG) HEMT excited by photomixed dual-CW-infrared (IR)- excess emission. Especially, the primary peak at around 5.2
laser irradiation, and obtained an asymptotic behavior of
enhancement of the THz emission assisted by plasmonic
instabilities [2]. Further study, however, identified the
instability was not the boom type but the Doppler-shift type that
had already been experimentally verified [3]. In this report, we
precisely extracted the gate-bias-dependent electron drift
velocity and plasma velocity to surely let the HEMT promote
the plasmonic boom instability (Fig. 1), leading to enhancement
of THz emission when the photomixed difference frequency
meets the plasmonic cavity resonant modes.

II. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

We fabricated an InGaAs-DGG-HEMT (Fig. 1). The gate
length is 150 nm, and the distance of each gate electrodes is 150
nm. The HEMT operates in a depletion mode with a threshold
voltage -1.0 V and the field-effect mobility of 11,000 cm2/Vs at
300 K. Drain-source bias was applied at 1 V to promote the
current-driven instability. Gate1 bias, VG1S, was set at 0 V to
Fig. 1. Plasmonic boom instability in an DGG-HEMT.
work the channel regions as plasmon cavities whereas Gate2,

Fig. 2. Experimental setup for THz emission promoted by plasmonic instabilities.

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THz shows rather sharper resonant emission with a Q of 3.5
than that for δf = 5 THz with a Q of 2.0. Figure 4 (b), on the
other hand, shows the measured excess emission spectra when
VG2S = −1.0 V. Unlike the results shown in Fig. 4 (a), the
emission spectra at δf = 3 THz exhibited the highest intensity
emission with the primary peak at around 5.5 THz. The Q value
of the peak emission spectrum is Q ~ 3.2. The second highest
intensity emission with similar but weaker peak at around 5.5
THz was obtained at δf = 3 and 6 THz. In cases of δf = 2 and 5
THz, which gave distinctive emissions at VG2S = −0.5 V, (a)
exhibited no excess emissions at all. The dependence of excess
emission on δf totally differs each other between VG2S = −0.5
and −1.0V. From these results, it is inferred that different
plasmonic resonant mechanisms are promoted depending on
VG2S conditions as above mentioned.

III. DISCUSSION
To identify the mechanisms of the instability; Doppler shift-
(DS), transit-time- (TT), or boom-type, we extracted the drift (b)
velocity vd and plasma velocity s vs. VG2S (Fig. 4(a)). It was Fig. 3. Measured emission spectra (beyond the blackbody thermal radiation)
from the device at VG2S = −0.5 V (a) and − 1.0 V (b) V at various δf
clarified that vd exceeds s at VG2S = −1.0V but does not at VG2S conditions. The THz emission was enhanced around 5 THz under specific δf
= −0.5 V. The calculated plasmon mode frequencies agreed conditions. The spectral width agrees with the plasmon cavity Q factor.
well with δf that gave enhancement of THz emission (Fig.
4(b)). The observed peak frequencies are indicated with red-
(orange-) colored circles for the highest (second highest)
intensity peaks, whereas the calculated plasmon mode
frequencies are indicated with lines. The photomixed
difference frequencies (δf) are shown with horizontal blue
lines. The observed emission peaks meet well to the plasmon
mode frequencies. Moreover, the observed emission spectral
peak frequencies at VG2S = −0.5 V well meets the plasmonics
mode frequencies under asymmetric boundary conditions that
allow the DS-type instability to be promoted. The observed
emission peak frequencies at VG2S = −1.0 V well meets the
(a)
plasmon mode frequencies under both symmetric and
asymmetric boundary conditions that allow the plasmonic
boom instability. One exceptional case of one second highest
intensity peak for δf = 4 THz at VG2S = −1.0 V was obtained.
The reason of this small discrepancy should be examined in
further study.
IV. CONCLUSION
Depending on the fraction of vd/s, DS- and TT-type
instabilities (at VG2S = −0.5 V) or boom type instability (at VG2S
= −1 V) was exclusively promoted resulting in enhancement of
THz emission in the current-driven DGG-HEMT. To the best (b)
Fig. 4. (a) Extracted drift velocity vs. plasma velocity, and (b) observed emission
of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first manifestation of THz spectral peak frequencies (colored circles) vs. plasmon mode frequencies (lines)
emission promoted by the plasmonic boom instability [4]. for VG2S = −0.5 and −1.0 V. The subscript “pl-s1, s2, a1, and a2 denote
symmetric 1st, 2nd, and asymmetric 1st and 2nd mode, respectively. It is
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS concluded that the enhancement at VG2S = −1.0 V is due to the plasmonic boom
instability.
This work was financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI
#18K04277, #18J21073, and #20K20439, Japan.

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