Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique

Simon Vassant

Jean-Luc Pelouard

Fabrice Pardo

Jean-Jacques Greffet

Alexandre Archambault

François Marquier

According to one aspect, the present invention concerns a terahertz modulator () intended to be used in a given frequency band of use. The modulator comprises a semi-conductor polar crystal () presenting a Reststrahlen band overlapping said frequency band of use and presenting at least one interface with a dielectric medium, coupling means () allowing the resanant coupling of an interface phonon polariton (IPhP) supported by said interface and of an incident radiation () of pre-determined frequency lying in said frequency band of use and means of control () apt to modify the intensity of the coupling between said interface phonon polariton and said incident radiation () by modification of the dielectric function of the polar crystal in the Reststrahlen band of the polar crystal ().

Terahertz modulator

According to a first aspect of the invention, the invention relates to a terahertz detection cell for detecting radiations having frequencies within a given spectral detection band, said cell comprising: a polar semi-conductor crystal structured such that it forms at least one slab of crystal, said crystal () having a Reststrahlen band covering said spectral detection band, and comprising at least one interface with a dielectric means; coupling means obtained by the slab structure (), each slab forming an optical antenna, enabling the resonant coupling of an interface phonon polariton (IPhP) supported by said interface and an incident radiation having a frequency within the spectral detection band; and at least one first and one second connection terminal () that are in electrical contact respectively with a first and a second end of the interface, said ends opposing each other, and said connection terminals to be connected to an electrical reading circuit for measuring the variation of the impedance of the crystal between the opposing ends of the interface.

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Simon Vassant