In this work, a pump-probe experiment is used to study the ultrafast dynamics of heat transfer in thin gold films and gold nanostructures on glass substrates, following local heating by ultrashort laser pulses. Full spectrotemporal differential reflectivity and transmission maps were obtained for different film thicknesses (30, 50, 80, 150, and 200 nm) and different laser fluences $(0.38 \mathrm{to} 9.5{\mathrm{Jm}}^{-2})$. For arrays of gold nanorods, the two orthogonal probe polarizations were also acquired. We propose an improved model for these phenomena based on a modified two-temperature model that integrates thermal conduction and the three-dimensional finite element method model to link the spatiotemporal temperature maps to the spectrotemporal optical response maps. The impact of an underlying titanium adhesion layer is reported. Excellent agreement between numerical and experimental data for both the gold films and the nanostructures is shown.

A multiple-energy, high fluence, MeV Fe ion implantation process was applied at 83 K to heavily damage a low band gap (0.79 eV) epitaxial InGaAsP layer. Optimal rapid thermal annealing conditions were found and produced a fast photoconductor with high resistivity (up to 2500 Ωcm) and Hall mobility around 400 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹. Short photocarrier trapping times (0.3 ps – 3 ps) were observed via transient differential reflectivity measurements. Furthermore, photoconductive terahertz devices with coplanar electrodes were fabricated and validated. Under pulsed excitation with a 1550 nm femtosecond fiber laser source, antennas based on Fe-implanted InGaAsP are able to emit broadband radiation exceeding 2 THz. Given such specifications, this new material qualifies as a worthy candidate for an integration into optical terahertz spectrometer designs.

In this work we compare the characteristics of asymmetrically excited small-aperture antenna-type pulsed terahertz emitters fabricated using an ion implantation process. Our photoconductive materials consist of high resistivity GaAs substrates. Multienergy implantations of arsenic (1.2 and 2MeV) and oxygen (180, 450, and 700keV) have been used to obtain an almost uniform density of vacancies over the optical absorption depth in bulk GaAs substrates. Terahertz pulses are generated by exciting our devices with ultrashort laser pulses. Ion implantation followed by a thermal annealing process introduces nonradiative centers in our substrates which reduce the carrier lifetime and modify the shape of our terahertz pulses. Results obtained as functions of the laser excitation power and bias voltage are discussed and a comparison of the performance of these devices with conventional small-aperture antennas is given.

In thin silicon nanowires n-doped with phosphorus, surface traps induce band bending and one observes strongly diminished photocarrier mobilities and lifetimes, compared to those for bulk samples.