High quality factor, fully switchable terahertz superconducting metasurface

Journal Article · Mon Dec 29 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905199· OSTI ID:22395599

Maissen, C.; Faist, J. ^[1]; Cibella, S.; Leoni, R. ^[2]

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1. Institute of Quantum Electronics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Switzerland)
2. Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (IFN), CNR, via Cineto Romano 42, 00156 Rome (Italy)

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 high Q and the use of inductive elements with a high aspect ratio. Comparison with three dimensional finite element simulations highlights the crucial role of the inductive elements and of the kinetic inductance of the Cooper pairs in achieving the high quality factor and the high field enhancement.

• OSTI ID: 22395599
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 26; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ASPECT RATIO
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOPER PAIRS
COUPLING
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
INDUCTANCE
NIOBIUM
QUALITY FACTOR
SUPERCONDUCTORS
THIN FILMS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL LATTICES
THZ RANGE