Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Detailed knowledge of the ultrafast carrier dynamics is of crucial importance for the development of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices. Graphene, a gapless semiconductor, is very attractive for broadband photonic and optoelectronic applications. We performed pump-probe experiments on graphene samples in a wide spectral range from the near-infrared to the terahertz region (wavelength 0.8 µm – 120 µm). We show results on the relaxation dynamics and identify the main relaxation channels, namely optical phonons, intraband carrier-carrier scattering, and Auger-type processes [1]. Furthermore the saturation behaviour of the signals is investigated. This is important with respect to graphene-based saturable absorbers. Here we find that the intensity required for full beaching of graphene decreases by three orders of magnitude, when the pump wavelength is increased from 5 µm to 40 µm. Finally we present a fast graphene-based terahertz detector, which can be operated at room temperature.
This work was carried out in collaboration with M. Mittendorff, F. Göttfert, H. Schneider, and M. Helm from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf, M. Orlita and M. Potemski from LNCMI-CNRS Grenoble. Modelling based on microscopic theory was performed by T. Winzer, E. Malic, and A. Knorr at the TU Berlin, sample growth by M. Sprinkle, C. Berger, and W.A. de Heer from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. We acknowledge support by the German Science Foundation (DFG) in the framework of the priority program “Graphene”.
[1] S. Winnerl, M. Orlita, P. Plochocka, P. Kossacki, M. Potemski, T. Winzer, E. Malic, A. Knorr, M. Sprinkle, C. Berger, W. A. de Heer, H. Schneider, and M. Helm, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 237401 (2011).