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This article exploits group-IV germanium (Ge) quantum dots (QDs) on Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in order to explore its optical behaviour in the Terahertz (THz) regime. In this work, Ge QDs, pumped by an above bandgap near infrared wavelength, exhibit THz amplitude modulation in the frequency range of 0.1-1.0 THz. The epitaxial Ge QDs outperform reference SOI substrate in THz amplitude modulation owing to higher carrier generation in weakly confined dots compared to its bulk counterpart. This is further corroborated using theoretical model based on the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method. This model enables the calculation of photo carriers generated (PCG) and their confinement in the Ge QD region. Our model also reroutes the calculation from PCG to corresponding plasma frequency and hence to refractive index and THz photo-conductivity. Moreover, the photo-generated confined holes accumulation at the Ge QDs-Si interface is elevated after optical illumination, leading to a decreased THz photo-conductivity. This augmentation in THz photo-conductivity contributes to a significant enhancement of THz modulation depth ~77% at Ge QDs-Si interfaces compared to bare SOI at 0.1 THz., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures

In the pursuit of room temperature quantum hardware, our study introduces a gate voltage tunable quantum wire within a tri-gated n-type junctionless MOSFET. The application of gate voltage alters the parabolic potential well of the tri-gated junctionless MOSFET, enabling modification of the nanowire's potential well profile. In the presence of light, photogenerated electrons accumulate at the center of the junctionless nanowire, aligning with the modified potential well profile influenced by gate bias. These carriers at the center are far from interfaces and experience less interfacial noise. Therefore, such clean photo-doping shows clear, repeatable peaks in current for specific gate biases compared to the dark condition, considering different operating drain-to-source voltages at room temperature. We propose that photodoping-induced subband occupation of gate tunable potential well of the nanowire is the underlying phenomenon responsible for this kind of observation. This study reveals experimental findings demonstrating gate-induced switching from semi-classical to the quantum domain, followed by the optical occupancy of electronic sub-bands at room temperature. We developed a compact model based on the Nonequilibrium Green's function formalism to understand this phenomenon in our illuminated device better. This work reveals the survival of the quantum confinement effect at room temperature in such semi-classical transport., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures