Optical emission of graphene and electron-hole pair production induced by a strong THz field

Abstract: We report on the first experimental observation of graphene optical emission induced by the intense THz pulse. P-doped CVD graphene with the initial Fermi energy of about 200 meV was used, optical photons was detected in the wavelength range of 340-600 nm. Emission started when THz field amplitude exceeded 100 kV/cm. For THz fields from 200 to 300 kV/cm the temperature of optical radiation was constant, while the number of emitted photons increased several dozen times. This fact clearly indicates multiplication of electron-hole pairs induced by an external field itself and not due to electron heating. The experimental data are in a good agreement with the theory of Landau-Zener interband transitions. It is shown theoretically that Landau-Zener transitions are possible even in the case of heavily doped graphene because the strong THz field removes quasiparticles from the region of interband transitions during several femtoseconds, which cancels the Pauli blocking effect.