On the thermal dependence of the generation of terahertz radiation by photomixing

We study the temperature dependence of the generation of terahertz (THz) waves by photomixing in GaAs based antennas, grown at low-temperatures. For excitation with 780 nm light, the generated photocurrent increases by 15%, if the temperature is increased from 18 °C to 60 °C, whereas the generated THz power increases by 28%. The results show that the operation of THz antennas is robust with respect to changes in the ambient temperature and thus support the possibility of robust, potentially mobile devices without the need for a careful temperature control of the antenna structure.