Materials for 1.55m-pumped terahertz photoconductive switches: a review

This paper reviews promising materials for compact sources and detectors for terahertz pulses via 1.55 μm photoconductive switches. We begin with a brief description of importance of effective terahertz generation and detection, then the mechanism of photoconductive switches will be introduced. Then, we provide a detailed discussion and comparison on a wide range of the state-of-the-art materials and their relevant properties for terahertz photoconductive switches including bandgap energy, dark resistance, carrier mobility, carrier lifetime, and etc.