A PHOTOCONDUCTIVE, MINIATURE TERAHERTZ SOURCE

We discuss the performance of a micromachined, photoconductive teraher tz emitter that is fabricated on low-temperature-grown GaAs. The devic e is mounted on a pair of single-mode optical fibers that allows the s ource to be freely positionable. A strong radiation burst is emitted d ue to the large magnetic moment created by the electrode. The emitter' s small feature size of 300 mu m by 300 mu m with a photoconductive sw itch area of 30 mu m by 30 mu m suggests its application for terahertz , time-domain, near-field spectroscopy and imaging. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.