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
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
Citation
Santos Batista, J. (2019). Optical Response Analysis of THz Photoconductive Antenna Using COMSOL Multiphysics. Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/eleguht/59
Included in
Electromagnetics and Photonics Commons, Engineering Physics Commons, Optics Commons, Plasma and Beam Physics Commons, Service Learning Commons