Absorption of terahertz radiation by plasmon modes in a grid-gated double-quantum-well field-effect transistor

The terahertz absorption spectrum of plasmon modes in a grid-gated double-quantum-well (DQW) field-effect transistor structure is analyzed theoretically and numerically using a first principles electromagnetic approach and is shown to faithfully reproduce important physical features of recent experimental observations. We find that the essential character of the response-multiple resonances corresponding to spatial harmonics of standing plasmons under the metal grating-is caused by the static spatial modulation of electron density in the channel. Higher order plasmon modes become more optically active as the depth of the electron density modulation in the DQW tends towards unity. The maximum absorbance, at plasma resonance, is shown to be 1/2. Furthermore, the strongest absorption also occurs when the standing plasmon resonance coincides with the fundamental dipole mode of the ungated portion of the channel. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.