2021/05/18 by Lu Wang, Jeremy Lim, Wang, Lu +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Optics (physics.optics) #Photonic and Optical Devices #Terahertz technology and applications #Topological Materials and Phenomena #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2105.08264
arxiv created 2021/05/18 · openalex publication_date 2021/05/18 · arxiv updated 2021/05/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We show that 3D Dirac semimetals are promising candidates for highly efficient optical-to-terahertz conversion due to their extreme optical nonlinearities. In particular, we predict that the conversion efficiency of Cd3As2 exceeds typical materials like LiNbo3 by >5000 times over nanoscale propagation distances. Our studies show that even when no restrictions are placed on propagation distance, Cd3As2 still outperforms LiNbo3 in efficiency by >10 times. Our results indicate that by tuning the Fermi energy, Pauli blocking can be leveraged to realize a step-like efficiency increase in the optical-to-terahertz conversion process. We find that large optical to terahertz conversion efficiencies persist over a wide range of input frequencies, input field strengths, Fermi energies, and temperatures. Our results could pave the way to the development of ultrathin-film terahertz sources for compact terahertz technologies.