International Research Project TeraMIR
Terahertz and Mid-Infrared Collective Phenomena in Semiconductor Nanostructures (TeraMIR)
The International Research Project (IRP) TeraMIR, bringing together French, Russian, and Polish research centers and coordinated by Frédéric Teppe, Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (CNRS&UM), was created on January 1, 2019, for a period of four years (2019-2023).
The IRP TeraMIR is based on the previous collaboration between French, Russian, and Polish laboratories: international research networks (GDR, GDRI, LIA) "Semiconductor sources and detectors of THz frequencies" were supported in France by CNRS from 2005 to 2018 as development from GDR to LIA. The network helped to identify and establish many strong bilateral collaborations. These collaborations are the basis of the present IRP.
Frederic TEPPE, Carlo SIRTORI, and Marek POTEMSKI, France
Grzegorz CYWINSKI, Poland
Sergey MOROZOV and Sergey DVORETSKY, Russian Federation
– Charles Coulomb Laboratory (L2C), UMR5221 CNRS-UM, Montpellier, directed by Prof. Pierre LEVEBVRE,
– Quantum Materials and Phenomena Laboratory (MPQ), UMR7162, CNRS-UPD, Paris, directed by Prof. Carlo SIRTORI,
– National Laboratory for Intense Magnetic Fields (LNCMI), UPR3228 CNRS, Grenoble, directed by Dr. Cristiano CIUTI,
– Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, directed by Professor Sylwester POROWSKI,
– Laboratory of Physics of Semiconductor Heterostructures and Superlattices, Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod, directed by Dr. Sergey MOROZOV,
– Laboratory of Epitaxial Technology from Molecular Beams of A2B6 compounds, Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, directed by Dr. Sergey DVORETSKY
– Group of Spin Phenomena Physics of the Laboratory of Cryogenic and Spintronic, Institute of Physics of Polish Academy of Sciences, directed by Prof. DIETL,
– Group of Carbon Nanoelectronics of the Radiophysics Laboratory, Moscow Pedagogical University directed by Prof. GOLTSMAN and Prof. FEDOROV
– Group on Terahertz Phenomena Theory and Applications of the Laboratory on Theory of Optical and Electrical Phenomena in Semiconductors, A.F.Ioffe Physical – Technical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, directed by Prof. KACHOROVSKII
– Laboratory for Semiconductor Materials Science, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, directed by Prof. KHOKHLOV
The IRP – TERAMIR Research Program consists of two main parts:
1. “Terahertz Excitations in New Topological and Dirac Matter Based on Semiconductor Heterostructures”
Topological insulator (TI) is a recently discovered new quantum state of matter that occurs in systems with strong spin-orbit coupling. In TI, the band energy spectrum of the inner part of a system has a gap like in conventional insulators, while at the edges there are conductive boundary states with a linear energy vs momentum dispersion law – characteristic for Dirac fermions. There exist other 2D and 3D systems such as graphene or Cd3As2 with dispersion relations represented by Dirac cones. These systems are often referred to as Dirac matter. Despite the long time since the discovery of TI, many important problems remain unsolved, such as: i) the observed quantization is much less accurate than that of the quantum Hall effect, and ii) topological protection of the edge channels unexpectedly persists up to high magnetic fields. The general scientific objective of this project is to answer these basic physics questions by researching novel 2D structures that can be tuned between different topological phases. These novel TIs may be obtained either by growing III-V or II-VI semiconductor quantum wells with different geometries, or by tuning the band energy structure by changing temperature or hydrostatic pressure.
2. “MIR and THz laser sources based on HgTe/CdHgTe quantum wells”
The development of compact solid-state sources of far infrared (IR) radiation is one of the most important tasks in modern semiconductor physics. Many applications, such as the spectroscopy of gases and solids or environmental monitoring, require such radiation sources. In most of the mid-IR region, the devices of choice are unipolar quantum cascade lasers (QCL), which can operate in a continuous wave mode at 300K up to a wavelength of about 15 microns, providing output power of several watts. However, at longer wavelengths (λ> 15 microns) their figures of merit drop dramatically, because of two-phonon absorption bands of A3B5 semiconductors in this spectral range. In this spectral range, interband HgCdTe lasers can be competitive with the incumbent lasers, since the optical phonon frequencies in A2B6 semiconductors are significantly lower than that of the abovementioned A3B5 semiconductors, corresponding to the spectral range of 60–110 microns. This project proposes the use of HgTe/CdHgTe-based QW structures for the generation and detection of mid-infrared and terahertz radiation. The ultimate goal of this part of the project is to understand whether MIR emission in the range forbidden to III-V compounds and a THz laser with emission below the optical phonon, at only a few meV (5–10 meV), are possible.
– Steering Committee of International Research Project TeraMIR, December 2, 2020, online.
– 2020 Joint annual meeting of International Research Projects, CNRS, "2DM" and "TeraMIR," November 30–December 1, 2020, online.
– Steering Committee of International Research Project TeraMIR, October 16, 2019, Warsaw.
– 2019 Annual Workshop of International Research Project TeraMIR, October 17–19, and French-Polish science & technology meeting, October 15–16, 2019, Warsaw.