All-electric detectors of the polarization state of terahertz laser radiation (extended version)

Two types of room temperature detectors of terahertz laser radiation have been developed which allow in an all-electric manner to determine the plane of polarization of linearly polarized radiation and the ellipticity of elliptically polarized radiation, respectively. The operation of the detectors is based on photogalvanic effects in semiconductor quantum well structures of low symmetry. The photogalvanic effects have sub-nanosecond time constants at room temperature making a high time resolution of the polarization detectors possible.