Abstract

Photoconductive switching and electro-optic sampling provide a basis for generating and measuring electrical waveforms with subpicosecond risetimes [1]. The simplest structure, shown in Fig. 1, consists of a photoconductive switch and coplanar microstrip fabricated on a GaAs substrate. The switch is turned on by illuminating the gap with a laser pulse to generate electron-hole pairs. The electrons and holes then move according to the fields created by the bias voltage applied to one side of the gap, and induce a propagating wave on the microstrip structure.

© 1991 Optical Society of America