POINT CONTACT DIODE AT LASER FREQUENCIES

Dramatic improvements in the stability of the metal‐insulator‐metal point contact diode has been achieved by the use of blunter whisker tips. The optimum values for tip radius and diode resistance were experimentally determined. Both sensitivity and high‐speed response of W‐NiO‐Ni point contact diodes were investigated at different laser frequencies and mixing orders as a function of tip radius, resistance, and coupling. The tip radii were changed by more than an order of magnitude, and surprisingly, the sensitivity and the harmonic generation up to 88 THz were not significantly affected. A conical antenna was found to be superior to the conventional long‐wire antenna at wavelengths shorter than 10 μm. Responsivity measurements as a function of the diode resistance showed evidence for two different physical mechanisms responsible for the operation of the diode.