Date of Graduation

5-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Electrical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

El-Shenawee, Magda O.

Abstract

A THz photoconductive antenna consists of antenna pads laid over a photoconductive substrate. These types of antennas are excited through the application of an optical pump (laser), which generates carriers inside the semiconductor. The acceleration and recombination of these carriers produce photocurrent that excites the antenna and generates THz pulse. This thesis focuses on analyzing the optical response of a photoconductive antenna, which consist of the interaction of the incident electric field of a laser pump with the radiating device. It develops the amplitude modulation process of a plane wave of light into a laser pump. It also takes into consideration the spatial distribution of this excitation, which is approximated by the paraxial Gaussian beam formula. With these equations, simulations are performed using COMSOL Multiphysics in order to model the spatial and temporal Gaussian beam and its interaction with the photoconductive material. Results for the electric field and the total power flux density are displayed, so that they can be used in the future work for the carrier generation rate for the electrical response of a photoconductive antenna.

Keywords

COMSOL Multiphysics; Terahertz Antenna; Gaussian Beam; Laser; Photoconductive; Service learning

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