Mechanism of terahertz electromagnetic wave emission from intrinsic Josephson junctions.

Using a 3D parallelepiped model of the stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions, we calculate the cavity resonance modes of Josephson plasma waves excited by external electric currents. The cavity modes accompanied by static phase kinks of the order parameter have been intensively investigated. Our calculation shows that the kink phase state is unfavorable, since the static phase kinks reduce the order parameter amplitude and thus the superconducting condensation energy. We point out that the oscillating magnetic field of the cavity mode penetrates the vacuum from the sample surfaces and the energy of the magnetic field plays an important role to determine the orientation of the cavity resonance mode. On the basis of the above discussions, we calculate the I-V characteristic curve, the THz wave emission intensity and the other physical quantities.