Time-resolved ultrafast photocurrents and terahertz generation in freely suspended graphene
Open accessAbstract
Graphene, a two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms, is a promising building block for a wide range of optoelectronic devices owing to its extraordinary electrical and optical properties, including the ability to absorb ~2% of incident light over a broad wavelength range. While the RC-limited bandwidth of graphene-based photodetectors can be estimated to be as large as 640 GHz, conventional electronic measurement techniques lack for analysing photocurrents at such frequencies. Here we report on time-resolved picosecond photocurrents in freely suspended graphene contacted by metal electrodes. At the graphene–metal interface, we demonstrate that built-in electric fields give rise to a photocurrent with a full-width-half-maximum of ~4 ps and that a photothermoelectric effect generates a current with a decay time of ~130 ps. Furthermore, we show that, in optically pumped graphene, electromagnetic radiation up to 1 THz is generated. Our results may prove essential to build graphene-based ultrafast photodetectors, photovoltaic cells and terahertz sources. Graphene's broad bandwidth makes it promising as a photodetector, but common electronics cannot analyse the currents at high frequencies. Here, using photocurrent measurements, laser-induced carrier generation effects in freely suspended graphene and at graphene–metal interfaces are clarified up to 1 THz.
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Initial studies by Prechtel et al. distinguished THz currents driven by built-in electric fields from much slower photothermoelectric currents at an interface between suspended graphene and a gold strip line.
“Initial studies by Prechtel et al. distinguished THz currents driven by built-in electric fields from much slower photothermoelectric currents at an interface between suspended graphene and a gold strip line243 (Fig. 11a)”
From Ultrafast terahertz emission from emerging symmetry-broken materials (2023) · cites this paper as [243]
The Abstract and the time-resolved photocurrent section distinguish a fast, built-in-field photocurrent (~4 ps) from a much slower photothermoelectric current (~130 ps) at the graphene–metal interface; the methods identify the stripline electrodes as gold. But the Discussion attributes the oscillations reaching 1 THz to radiation from an electron–hole plasma in optically pumped graphene, not to built-in electric fields. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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- Authors
- Prechtel, L., Song, L., Schuh, D., Ajayan, P., Wegscheider, W., & Holleitner, A. W.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Shinshu University (JP)
- University of Regensburg (DE)
- Rice University (US)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Holleitner, Alexander W.
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2012-01-31
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 646-646
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1989880300
- Cited by
- 176
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 9.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Regensburg Publication Server (University of Regensburg) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- ETH Zürich Research Collection
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Graphene research and applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Terahertz technology and applications
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › 2D Materials and Applications
- Keywords
- graphene, time-resolved photocurrent, terahertz generation, graphene-metal interface, built-in electric field, photothermoelectric effect, ultrafast photodetectors, picosecond carrier dynamics, terahertz sources, solar cells
- MeSH terms
- Carbon, Electrodes, Graphite, Lasers, Light, Metals, Oscillometry, Photochemistry, Temperature, Thermodynamics, Time Factors, Finite Element Analysis, Nanotechnology, Terahertz Spectroscopy, Optics and Photonics, Electromagnetic Radiation
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