Terahertz photomixing with diode lasers in low‐temperature‐grown GaAs

Recent optical heterodyne measurements with distributed‐Bragg‐reflector diode‐laser pumps demonstrate that low‐temperature‐grown (LTG) GaAs photomixers will be useful in a compact all‐solid‐state terahertz source. Electrical 3 dB bandwidths as large as 650 GHz are measured in mixers with low electrode capacitance. These bandwidths appear to be independent of pump‐laser wavelength over the range 780–850 nm. Shorter wavelength pumping results in a significant reduction of the bandwidth. The best LTG‐GaAs photomixers are used to generate coherent continuous‐wave output radiation at frequencies up to 5 THz.