Proposal for a Graphene Plasmonic THz Emitter

Abstract

We propose a terahertz radiation source based on the excitation of plasma resonances in graphene structures by means of mixing two NIR laser signals with a THz difference frequency. The process is the photo-thermo-electric effect which has recently been demonstrated to be operative at THz frequencies in graphene. An antenna couples the THz radiation out of the sub-wavelength graphene element and into the far field. The emission is monochromatic with a bandwidth determined by that of the NIR laser sources. The output power of the device as a function of the emitter frequency is estimated at tens of microWatts.