A room-temperature terahertz (THz) detector based on a thermoelectric frequency selective surface (FSS) has been numerically simulated, designed, fabricated, and tested. The FSS has been fabricated from a 150 nm thin Bi₈₈Sb₁₂ thermoelectric film with the engraved periodic Greek crosses. The detector prototype has been tested under the 0.14 THz radiation exposure and showed a voltage response due to the photo-thermoelectric effect up to 0.13–0.18 mV, and voltage responsivity equal to 14–20 mV/W. The detector based on the FSS has shown voltage responsivity up to three times higher in comparison with the detector based on the continuous film. Thermal imaging has shown a temperature increase in the FSS up to 1.5 K under the THz exposure. The obtained results demonstrate prospects for utilization of the Bi₈₈Sb₁₂ FSS detector as a low cost, compact, high-speed, highly sensitive room-temperature THz detector.

We report results of galvanomagnetic and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurements on thin films of Bi ${}_{1-x}$ Sb ${}_x$ on polyimide and mica substrates with various antimony concentrations (x from 0 to 15 %) and film thickness (70, 150 nm). The resistivity, Hall coefficient and magnetoresistivity of the films were measured experimentally in the magnetic field of 0.65 T at room temperature. Mobility and concentration of electrons and holes in the film plane were calculated using the transport coefficients. The terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is used to measure the complex conductivity and permittivity of Bi ${}_{1-x}$ Sb ${}_x$ thin films on the dielectric substrates in the frequency range from 0.2 to 1 THz. The plasma frequency, relaxation time, DC conductivity and effective carrier mass were extracted from these data and evaluated as functions of the Sb concentration for different film thickness and substrate. We observed that the film magnetoresistivity decreases with increasing the Sb concentration and for most of the films the Hall coefficient is negative and depends on the external factors insignificantly. We show that the mobility of charge carriers weakly depends on Sb concentration, which confirms the assertion about the scattering of carriers on themselves and not on defects in the structure. It was revealed that film static and dynamic resistivity (conductivity) as well as dielectric permittivity depend on Sb content and the film thickness. The results may be used for development of various thermoelectric, electronic and optical devices, such as THz detectors or components which can control the properties of THz radiation.

Terahertz (THz) technology has been applied in many scientific areas, such as explosive detection, quality control, and medical diagnostics.^{1 – 9} Compared with other medical diagnosis methods, THz technology has many advantages. THz radiation does not cause ionization in biotissues because it has very low photon energy.^{2 – 6} Since THz radiation is very sensitive to water and the hydration state of the object, which leads to good contrast between the normal and diseased tissues, THz has great promise in medical applications, especially for cancer diagnosis and tumor resection.^{4,5,8 – 10}

The terahertz frequency range is promising for solving various practically important problems. However, for the terahertz technology development, there is still a problem with the lack of affordable and effective terahertz devices. One of the main tasks is to search for new materials with high sensitivity to terahertz radiation at room temperature. Bi_1−xSb_x thin films with various Sb concentrations seem to be suitable for such conditions. In this paper, the terahertz radiation influence onto the properties of thermoelectric Bi_1−xSb_x 200 nm films was investigated for the first time. The films were obtained by means of thermal evaporation in vacuum. They were affected by terahertz radiation at the frequency of 0.14 terahertz (THz) in the presence of thermal gradient, electric field or without these influences. The temporal dependencies of photoconductivity, temperature difference and voltage drop were measured. The obtained data demonstrate the possibility for practical use of Bi_1−xSb_x thin films for THz radiation detection. The results of our work promote the usage of these thermoelectric materials, as well as THz radiation detectors based on them, in various areas of modern THz photonics.

Materials with tunable dielectric properties are highly relevant for terahertz (THz) applications. Herein, the tuning of the dielectric response of single‐walled carbon nanotube layers by light illumination is studied for applications to THz phase shifters. The dependence of the length of individual nanotubes on the THz photoconductivity of the network is experimentally investigated in the frequency range of 0.2–1 THz by time‐domain spectroscopy (TDS). The effective conductivity of the networks is described by a theoretical model that fits the measured dielectric function. Terahertz phase shifters are realized with the carbon nanotube layers as the optically tunable element deposited on the wall of rectangular dielectric waveguides. The phase of the electromagnetic wave propagating in the waveguide is shown to be tunable by illuminating the nanotubes. A linear phase shift with the frequency is measured between 75 and 500 GHz with a low change in amplitude due to the illumination.

Terahertz (THz) filters and detectors can find a wide application in such fields as: sensing, imaging, security systems, medicine, wireless connection, and detection of substances. Thermoelectric materials are promising basis for THz detectors’ development due to their sensitivity to the THz radiation, possibility to be heated under the THz radiation and produce voltage due to Seebeck effect. Thermoelectric thin films of Bi-Sb solid solutions are semimetals/semiconductors with the band gap comparable with THz energy and with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency at room temperature. Detecting film surface can be transformed into a periodic frequency selective surface (FSS) that can operate as a frequency filter and increases the absorption of THz radiation. We report for the first time about the simulation of THz detector based on thermoelectric Bi-Sb thin-filmed frequency-selective surface. We show that such structure can be both detector and frequency filter. Moreover, it was shown that FSS design increases not only a heating due to absorption but a temperature gradient in Bi-Sb film by two orders of magnitude in comparison with continuous films. Local temperature gradients can reach the values of the order of 100 K·mm⁻¹. That opens new perspectives for thin-filmed thermoelectric detectors’ efficiency increase. Temperature difference formed due to THz radiation absorption can reach values on the order of 1 degree. Frequency-transient calculations show the power dependence of film temperature on time with characteristic saturation at times around several ms. That points to the perspective of reaching fast response times on such structures.