Characterization of the terahertz photoconductive antenna by three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method

Abstract: We numerically describe the physical mechanism underlying the terahertz photoconductive antenna (PCA) by the finite-difference time-domain method in three-dimension. The feature of our approach is that the multi-physical phenomena happening in the PCA, such as light-matter interaction, photo-excited carrier dynamics and full-wave propagation of the THz radiation, are considered and embodied in the simulation. The method has been verified by comparing with existing commercial softwares. In addition, we use this simulation tool to characterize the parameter-dependent performance of a PCA,thereby the design of novel PCA with enhanced optics-to-THz efficiency can be inspired.