1550 nm ErAs:In(Al)GaAs large area photoconductive emitters

We report on high power terahertz (THz) emission from ErAs-enhanced In0.52Al0.48As-In0.53Ga0.47As superlattices for operation at 1550 nm. ErAs clusters act as efficient recombination centers. The optical power is distributed among a large, microstructured area in order to reduce the local optical intensity. A THz field strength of 0.7 V/cm (1 V/cm peak-to-peak) at 100 mW average optical power has been obtained, with emission up to about 4 THz in air, limited by the detection crystal used in the system.