Abstract

We present an analytical estimation and experimental measurement of noise spectral density and noise average power in THz photomixers as receivers in heterodyne THz sensing. The estimations take into account generation-recombination, thermal, and flicker noise. This provides insight into effect of different photomixer parameters on the noise level of a detected signal, and to noise behavior prior to detection of THz signals in the alignment stage of the receiver photoconductive sensor.

© 2011 Optical Society of America