A study of thermal effects in superconducting terahertz modulator by low temperature scanning laser microscope

We use low temperature scanning laser microscope (LTSLM) to study the Joule power distribution of superconducting (SC) terahertz (THz) modulator. The LTSLM scanning images record the SC state transformation process under different DC bias voltages. The change of THz transmission spectra can be well explained by the thermal effect in the devices observed by LTSLM. Hotspots are present in one THz modulator and the transmission spectra changes a lot after the hotspots show up. According to theoretical analysis, the appearance of hotspot may be helpful for improving the modulation speed. These results will be useful to understand the mechanism of SC THz modulator and design higher performance THz moduators.