Fast detector of the ellipticity of infrared and terahertz radiation based on HgTe quantum well structures

We report a fast, room temperature detection scheme for the polarization ellipticity of laser radiation, with a bandwidth that stretches from the infrared to the terahertz range. The device consists of two elements, one in front of the other, that detect the polarization ellipticity and the azimuthal angle of the ellipse. The elements, respectively, utilize the circular photogalvanic effect in a narrow gap semiconductor and the linear photogalvanic effect in a bulk piezoelectric semiconductor. For the former we characterized both a HgTe quantum well and bulk Te, and for the latter, bulk GaAs. In contrast with optical methods we propose is an easy to handle all-electric approach, which is demonstrated by applying a large number of different lasers from low power, continuous wave systems to high power, pulsed sources. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3056393