H. O. Moser, L. K. Jian, H. S. Chen, M. Bahou, S. M. P. Kalaiselvi, S. Virasawmy, S. M. Maniam, X. X. Cheng, S. P. Heussler, Shahrain bin Mahmood, B. -I. Wu
Seeing sharper or becoming invisible are visions strongly driving the development of THz metamaterials. Strings are a preferred architecture of metamaterials as they extend continuously along one dimension. Here, we demonstrate that laterally interconnecting strings by structural elements that are placed in oscillation nodes such as to not quench electromagnetic resonances enables manufacturing of self-supported free-standing all-metal metamaterials. Upright S-strings, interconnected by rods, form a space-grid which we call meta-foil. In this way, we introduce binding between the "atoms" of the metamaterial, thus doing away with conventional "frozen-in solutions" like matrix embedding or thin films on substrates. Meta-foils are locally stiff, yet globally flexible. Even bent to cylinders of 1 cm radius, they maintain their spectral response, thus becoming true metamaterials on curved surfaces. Exploiting UV/X-ray lithography and ultimately plastic moulding, meta-foils can be cost-effectively manufactured in large areas and quantities to serve as optical elements.
The implementation of terahertz (THz) wafer-level metadevices is critical to advance the science for applications including (I) integrated focal plane array which can image for biology and (II) integrated narrowband absorbers for high spectral resolution THz spectroscopy. Substantial progress has been made in the development of THz metamaterials; however, a wafer-level low-stress THz metadevices platform remains a challenge. This paper experimentally demonstrates a substrate-free THz metadevices platform adopting engineered Si-rich and low-stress silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films, achieving an…
Superconducting terahertz (THz) metamaterial (MM) made from superconducting Nb film has been investigated using a continuous-wave THz spectroscopy with a superconducting split-coil magnet. The obtained quality factors of the resonant modes at 132 GHz and 450 GHz are about three times as large as those calculated for a metal THz MM operating at 1 K, which indicates that superconducting THz MM is a very nice candidate to achieve low loss performance. In addition, the magnetic field-tuning on superconducting THz MM is also demonstrated, which offer an alternative tuning method apart from the exis…
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) focal plane array (FPA) with optical readout offers exciting opportunities for real-time terahertz (THz) imaging. However, conventional FPA suffers from a low THz absorption ratio, which further decreases the performance of THz imaging. Here, we present a simple and scalable approach for the realization of THz focal plane metamaterial array with a relatively high absorption ratio. The key idea is to combine the advantages of substrate-free structures with metamaterial. A 100 x100 THz FPA with a 150 x 150 μm pixel is designed, fabricated, and characterized. …
In this letter, we propose hybrid metal-dielectric waveguides coupled to 2D materials that provide strong light-matter interaction at THz frequencies. We investigate the properties of the fundamental propagating modes and show that the strength of in-plane electric field components is maximized at the top of the dielectric strip on which the 2D material is deposited. Our simulation predicts 100 % modulation of THz light by tuning the Fermi level of a graphene sheet deposited onto a 1mm-long waveguide. We also show the potential of graphene multilayers coupled to these waveguides for achieving …
Cactus-like Metamaterial Structures for Electromagnetically Induced Transparency at THz frequencies
Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas（希腊研究与技术基金会）；National and Kapodistrian University of Athens（雅典国立卡波季斯特里大学）；National Hellenic Research Foundation（国家希腊研究基金会）；University of Regensburg（雷根斯堡大学）
We demonstrate a THz metamaterial with broadband dipole resonance originating due to the hybridization of LC resonances. The structure optimized by finite element method simulations is fabricated by electron beam lithography and characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. Numerically, we found that when two LC metamaterial resonators are brought together, an electric dipole resonance arises in addition to the LC resonances. We observed a strong dependence of the width of these resonances on the separation between the resonators. This dependence can be explained based on series and par…
We demonstrated an ultra-broadband, polarization-insensitive and wide-angle metamaterial absorber for terahertz (THz) frequencies using arrays of truncated pyramid unit structure made of metal-dielectric multilayer composite. In our design each sub-layer behaving as an effective waveguide is gradually modified in their lateral width to realize a wideband response by effectively stitching together the resonance bands of different waveguide modes. Experimentally, our five layer sample with a total thickness 21um is capable of producing a large absorptivity above 80% from 0.7 to 2.3 THz up to the…
The metamaterial is proposed which supports a mixture of three or more normal and backward electromagnetic modes with equal co-directed phase velocities and mutually contra-directed energy fluxes. This enables extraordinary three-wave mixing, greatly enhanced optical parametric amplification and frequency-changing generation of entangled photons in the reflection direction. Proof-of-principle numerical simulation of such processes is presented based on the particular example of the wave-guided THz waves contra-propagating in the metamaterial made of carbon nanotubes.
The development of innovative terahertz (THz) imaging systems has recently moved in the focus of scientific efforts due to the ability to screen substances through textiles or plastics. The invention of THz imaging systems with high spatial resolution is of increasing interest for applications in the realms of quality control, spectroscopy in dusty environment and security inspections. One of the main restrictions of current THz imaging systems is the low spatial resolution which is limited by a lack of THz lenses with strong focusing capabilities. Here we present the design, fabrication and t…
We report single and multiband linear polarizers for terahertz (THz) frequencies using cut-wire metamaterials (MM). The MMs are designed by finite element method, fabricated by electron beam lithography, and characterized by THz time-domain spectroscopy. The MM unit cells consist of single or multiple length cut-wire pads of gold on semi-insulating Gallium Arsenide for single or multiple band polarizers. The dependence of the resonance frequency of the single band polarizer on the length of the cut-wires is explained based a transmission line model.
We report fabrication method and THz characterization of composite films containing either aligned metallic (tin alloy) microwires or chalcogenide As2Se3 microwires. The microwire arrays are made by stack-and-draw fiber fabrication technique using multi-step co-drawing of low-melting-temperature metals or semiconductor glasses together with polymers. Fibers are then stacked together and pressed into composite films. Transmission through metamaterial films is studied in the whole THz range (0.1-20 THz) using a combination of FTIR and TDS. Metal containing metamaterials are found to have strong …
The active and nonlinear graphene properties are limited due to weak light matter interaction between the ultrathin graphene and the incident light. In this work, we present enhanced nonlinear effects at the low terahertz (THz) range by designing a new patterned graphene hyperbolic metamaterial (GHMM). More specifically, it is demonstrated that the third harmonic generation (THG) can be significantly enhanced by the proposed GHMM due to the field enhancement at the resonance as well as the supported slow light response that fosters strong light matter interaction.
Continuous Wave (CW) Terahertz spectroscopy enabled by photomixing is a promising high precision spectroscopic tool for the examination of a wide variety of samples including biological, chemical, and solid state. However, often it would be of interest to examine isolated samples free from bulk effects that broaden spectral features. In this form samples with low concentrations of absorbers have a reduced cross section making coupling to an external driving field a challenge. By utilising THz metamaterials one can borrow the concepts of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to confine and concen…
We present a complementary THz metasurface realised with Niobium thin film which displays a quality factor Q=54 and a fully switchable behaviour as a function of the temperature. The switching behaviour and the high quality factor are due to a careful design of the metasurface aimed at maximising the ohmic losses when the Nb is above the critical temperature and minimising the radiative coupling. The superconductor allows the operation of the cavity with an high Q and inductive elements with an high aspect ratio. Comparison with three dimensional finite element simulations highlights the cruci…
All-dielectric metamaterials composed of high index and low loss dielectric resonators have become a promising way for high-efficient optical devices. However, fabricating terahertz all-dielectric metamaterials and actively tuning their properties still remain challenges. In this paper, an effective method has been developed to prepare high-quality microspheres based all-dielectric metamaterial operating in terahertz (THz) range. Then, we propose a magnetically tunable THz all-dielectric metamaterial based on liquid crystal (LC). The all-dielectric metamaterial is immersed into LC and tuned by…
We demonstrate an ultrafast reversible modulation of resonant terahertz (THz) response in strongly photoexcited metamaterials. The transient spectral-temporal response of the dipole transition ~1.6 THz exhibits a distinct non-monotonic variation as a function of pump fluence. The transition energy shift, strength, spectral width and density-dependent ultrafast relaxation manifest a remarkable re-emergence of the resonances after initial quenching. Our simulation, incorporating the first-order diffraction from the photoinduced transient grating, reproduces the salient features, providing a new …
The metamaterial analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in terahertz (THz) regime holds fascinating prospects for filling the THz gap in various functional devices. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid metamaterial to actively manipulate the resonance strength of EIT effect. By integrating a monolayer graphene into a THz metal metamaterial, an on-to-off modulation of the EIT transparency window is achieved under different Fermi levels of graphene. According to the classical two-particle model and the distributions of the electric field and surface charge density, the ph…
Metamaterial-based absorbers have been extensively investigated in the terahertz (THz) range with ever increasing performances. In this paper, we propose an all-dielectric THz absorber based on doped silicon. The unit cell consists of a silicon cross resonator with an internal cross-shaped air cavity. Numerical results suggest that the proposed absorber can operate from THz to mid-infrared, having an average power absorption of >95% between 0.6 and 10 THz. Experimental results using THz time-domain spectroscopy show a good agreement with simulations. The underlying mechanisms for broadband abs…
We present in this letter terahertz (THz) metamaterials with low ohmic losses made from low-temperature superconductor niobium nitride (NbN) films. The resonance properties are characterized by THz time-domain spectroscopy. The unloaded quality factor reaches as high as about 178 at 8 K with the resonance frequency at around 0.58 THz, which is about 24 times as many as gold metamaterials with the same structure. The unloaded quality factor also keeps high as the resonance frequency increases, which is about 90 at 1.02 THz that is close the gap frequency of NbN film. All these experimental obse…
We describe a novel artificial dielectric material which has applications at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. The material is manufactured from layers of metal mesh patterned onto thin polypropylene sheets which are then bonded together using a hot pressing process to provide planar rugged discs which can be reliably cycled to cryogenic temperatures. The refractive index of this material can be tuned by adjusting the geometry and spacing of the metal-mesh layers. We demonstrate its usage by designing and characterising a broadband anti-reflection coating for a Z-cut crystalline Quartz…
We study a polarizer-analyzer mounting for the terahertz regime with perfectly conducting metallic polarizers made of a periodic subwavelength pattern. We analytically investigate the influence on the transmission response of the multiple reflections which occur between polarizer and analyzer with a renewed Jones formalism. We demonstrate that this interaction leads to a modified transmission response: the extended Malus' Law. In addition, we show that the transmission response can be controlled by the distance between polarizer and analyzer. For particular set-ups, the mounting exhibits extre…
Coherent radiation with frequencies ranging from 0.3 to 30 THz has recently become accessible by femtosecond laser technology. Terahertz (THz) waves have already found many applications in spectroscopy and imaging, and they can be manipulated using static optical elements such as lenses, polarizers, and filters. However, ultrafast modulation of THz radiation is required as well, for instance in short-range wireless communication or for preparing shaped THz transients for coherent control of numerous material excitations. Here, we demonstrate an all-optically created transient metamaterial that…
The efficient amplification and lasing of electromagnetic radiation at terahertz (THz) frequencies is a non-trivial task achieved mainly by quantum cascade laser configurations with limited tunability and narrowband functionality. There is a strong need of compact and efficient THz electromagnetic sources with reconfigurable operation in a broad frequency range. Photoexcited graphene can act as the gain medium to produce coherent radiation at low THz frequencies but its response is very weak due to its ultrathin thickness. In this work, we demonstrate an alternative design to achieve efficient…
Compact and low-loss photonic crystal waveguides are critical in integrated terahertz (THz) applications. Compared with pure metal or dielectric photonic crystal waveguides, hybrid (metal-dielectric) integrated waveguides provide a simple way to further improve the field confinement and the propagation loss. In this work, we investigate a hybrid waveguide consisting of metallic photonic crystals and dielectric films in 0.1-1.0 THz. Photonic crystal waveguides based on metal pillar arrays (MPAs) support two resonance modes including the fundamental and high-order transverse magnetic (TM) modes …
We study complementary double split ring THz resonators fabricated on a 10 mum thin Si-membrane. The linewidths of the fundamental LC-mode and dipolar mode are drastically narrowing with increased resonator spacing. The extracted decay rate of the LC-mode as a function of the resonator density shows a linear dependence, evidencing a collective superradiant effect of the resonator array. Furthermore, we show that a metamaterial can be designed for a low superradiant broadening of the resonance at high resonator densities, i.e. in the metamaterial condition. The use of a thin membrane as a subst…
We suggest that all-photodesigned metamaterials, sub-wavelength custom patterns of photo-excited carriers on a semiconductor, can display an exotic extrinsic electromagnetic chirality in terahertz (THz) frequency range. We consider a photo-induced pattern exhibiting 1D geometrical chirality, i.e. its mirror image can not be superposed onto itself by translations without rotations and, in the long wavelength limit, we evaluate its bianisotropic response. The photo-induced extrinsic chirality turns out to be fully reconfigurable by recasting the optical illumination which supports the photo-exci…
Babinet complementary patterns of a spectrally tunable metamaterial incorporating a nematic liquid crystal are normally assumed to exhibit the same tuning range. Here we show that for a hybrid, terahertz liquid crystal-metamaterial, the sensitivity of its resonances to the variations of the refractive index differs substantially for the two complementary patterns. This is due to a mismatch between the alignment of the liquid crystal and the direction of the local electric field induced in the patterns. Furthermore, and more intriguingly, our experimental data indicate that it is possible to sh…
We present octave-wide bandpass filters in the terahertz (THz) region based on bilayer-metamaterial (BLMM) structures. The passband region has a super-Gaussian shape with a maximum transmittance approaching 70% and a typical stopband rejection of 20 dB. The design is based on a metasurface consisting of a metallic square-hole array deposited on a transparent polymer, which is stacked on top of an identical metasurface with a sub-wavelength separation. The superimposed metasurface structures were designed using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations and fabricated using a photolithogr…
Free-space coupling to strongly subwavelength individual optical elements is a central theme in quantum optics, as it allows to control and manipulate the properties of quantum systems. In this work, we show that by combining an asymmetric immersion lens setup and complementary design of metasurfaces we are able to perform THz time-domain spectroscopy of an individual, strongly subwavelength (d/λ0=1/20) meta-atom. We unravel the linewidth dependence of planar metamaterials as a function of the meta-atom number indicating quenching of the Dicke superradiance. On these grounds, we investigate ul…
Modern scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) has become an indispensable tool in material research. However, as the s-SNOM technique marches into the far-infrared (IR) and terahertz (THz) regimes, emerging experiments sometimes produce puzzling results. For example, anomalies in the near-field optical contrast have been widely reported. In this Letter, we systematically investigate a series of extreme subwavelength metallic nanostructures via s-SNOM near-field imaging in the GHz to THz frequency range. We find that the near-field material contrast is greatly impacted …
Terahertz near fields of gold metamaterials resonant at a frequency of $0.88\,\rm THz$ allow us to enter an extreme limit of non-perturbative ultrafast THz electronics: Fields reaching a ponderomotive energy in the keV range are exploited to drive nondestructive, quasi-static interband tunneling and impact ionization in undoped bulk GaAs, injecting electron-hole plasmas with densities in excess of $10^{19}\,\rm cm^{-3}$. This process causes bright luminescence at energies up to $0.5\,\rm eV$ above the band gap and induces a complete switch-off of the metamaterial resonance accompanied by self-…
Optical activity (polarization rotation of light) is one of the most desired features of chiral media, as it is important for many polarization related applications. However, in the THz region, chiral media with strong optical activity are not available in nature. Here, we study theoretically, and experimentally a chiral metamaterial structure composed of pairs of vertical U-shape resonators of "twisted" arms, and we reveal that it demonstrates large pure optical activity (i.e. optical activity associated with negligible transmitted wave ellipticity) in the low THz regime. The experimental dat…
Terahertz (THz) metamaterials have been developed for THz sensing, detection, imaging, and many other functions due to their unusual absorbers. However, the unusual absorption spectra change with different incident angles. Thus, we designed and fabricated a focal plane array with metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure metamaterial absorbers for further research. The absorption spectrum with incident angles from 20 to 60 was measured using THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS), and the experimental results reveal that the absorption spectrum changes with incident angle variations. A basic analy…
Metamaterial perfect absorbers from microwaves to optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum has been intensely studied for its ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation. Perfect absorption of light by metamaterials have opened up new opportunities for application oriented functionalities such as efficient sensors and emitters. We present an absorber based sensing scheme at the terahertz frequencies and discuss optimized designs to achieve high frequency and amplitude sensitivities. The major advantage of a perfect metamaterial absorber as a sensor is the sensitive shift in the absorber re…
We present a metamaterial-based terahertz (THz) sensor for thickness measurements of subwavelength-thin materials and refractometry of liquids and liquid mixtures. The sensor operates in reflection geometry and exploits the frequency shift of a sharp Fano resonance minimum in the presence of dielectric materials. We obtained a minimum thickness resolution of 12.5 nm (1/16000 times the wavelength of the THz radiation) and a refractive index sensitivity of 0.43 THz per refractive index unit. We support the experimental results by an analytical model that describes the dependence of the resonance…
We demonstrate a practical scalable approach to the fabrication of tunable metamaterials. Designed for THz wavelengths, the metamaterial is comprised of polyurethane filled with an array of indium wires using the well-established fiber drawing technique. Modification of the dimensions of the metamaterial provides tunability: by compressing the metamaterial we demonstrated a 50% plasma frequency shift using THz time domain spectroscopy. Releasing the compression allowed the metamaterial to return to its original dimensions and plasma frequency, demonstrating dynamic reversible tunability.
We provide an analysis of the electromagnetic modes of three-dimensional metamaterial resonators in the THz frequency range. The fundamental resonance of the structures is fully described by an analytical circuit model, which not only reproduces the resonant frequencies but also the coupling of the metamaterial with an incident THz radiation. We also evidence the contribution of the propagation effects, and show how they can be reduced by design. In the optimized design the electric field energy is lumped into ultra-subwavelength ($λ$/100) capacitors, where we insert semiconductor absorber bas…
Frequency Band of 0.5 THz to 1.1 THz (WR1.5 and WR1) is one of the promising bands when it comes to 6G. In this paper, we propose a novel metamaterial absorber suitable to be used at lower WR1 frequencies in TE mode. Alternatively, the design can be used as a strong absorber at lower Terahertz frequencies. In addition, when used in TM mode the absorber works as a perfect absorber at higher WR1 band.
We present optically tunable magnetic 3D metamaterials at terahertz (THz) frequencies which exhibit a tuning range of ~30% of the resonance frequency. This is accomplished by fabricating 3D array structures consisting of double-split-ring resonators (DSRRs) on silicon-on-sapphire, fabricated using multilayer electroplating. Photoexcitation of free carriers in the silicon within the capacitive region of the DSRR results in a red-shift of the resonant frequency from 1.74 THz to 1.16 THz. The observed frequency shift leads to a transition from a magnetic-to-bianisotropic response as verified thro…
It is evidenced by numerical calculations that optically pumped graphene is suitable for compensating inherent loss in terahertz (THz) metamaterials. In a first step, the complex conductivity of graphene under optical pumping is calculated and the proper conditions for terahertz amplification in single layer graphene are determined. It is shown that amplification in graphene occurs for temperatures up to room temperature and for moderate pump intensities when pumped at a telecommunication wavelength $λ=1.5~\mathrm{μm}$. Furthermore, the amplification properties of graphene are evaluated and di…
We investigated femtosecond laser ablation dynamics using THz time-domain spectroscopy. To clarify the breakdown dynamics of materials, we focused on the motion of charged particles and measured the terahertz waves emitted during laser ablation. We revealed that the Coulomb force dominated the ablation process. Furthermore, comparisons of the experimental results with theoretical models showed that material breakdown occurs within a few hundred femtoseconds. Our experimental results indicate that electrostatic ablation is the most likely ablation mechanism for metals.
Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter（马克斯·普朗克物质与结构动态研究所）；Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL)（自由电子激光科学中心）；Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems（马克斯·普朗克复杂系统物理研究所）；Department of Physics, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学物理系）
Spintronic terahertz (THz) emitter provides the advantages such as apparently broader spectrum, significantly lower cost, and more flexibility in compared with the commercial THz emitters, and thus attracts great interests recently. In past few years, efforts have been made in optimizing the material composition and structure geometry, and the conversion efficiency has been improved close to that of ZnTe crystal. One of the drawbacks of the current designs is the rather limited laser absorption - more than 50% energy is wasted and the conversion efficiency is thus limited. Here, we theoretical…
