Comparative study of equivalent circuit models for photoconductive antennas

Comparison of equivalent circuit models (ECM) for photoconductive antennas (PCA) represents a challenge due to the multiphysics phenomena involved during PCA operation and the absence of a standardized validation methodology. In this work, currently reported ECMs are compared using a unique set of simulation parameters and validation indicators (THz waveform, optical power saturation, and ECM voltages consistency). The ECM simulations are contrasted with measured THz pulses of an H-shaped 20 mu m gap PCA at different optical powers (20mW to 220mW). In addition, an alternative two-element ECM that accounts for both space-charge and radiation screening effects is presented and validated using the proposed methodology. The model shows an accurately reproduced THz pulse using a reduced number of circuital elements, which represents an advantage for PCA modeling. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement