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Title: Experimental demonstration of ultrasensitive sensing with terahertz metamaterial absorbers: A comparison with the metasurfaces

Abstract

Planar metasurfaces and plasmonic resonators have shown great promise for sensing applications across the electromagnetic domain ranging from the microwaves to the optical frequencies. However, these sensors suffer from lower figure of merit and sensitivity due to the radiative and the non-radiative loss channels in the plasmonic metamaterial systems. We demonstrate a metamaterial absorber based ultrasensitive sensing scheme at the terahertz frequencies with significantly enhanced sensitivity and an order of magnitude higher figure of merit compared to planar metasurfaces. Magnetic and electric resonant field enhancement in the impedance matched absorber cavity enables stronger interaction with the dielectric analyte. This finding opens up opportunities for perfect metamaterial absorbers to be applied as efficient sensors in the finger print region of the electromagnetic spectrum with several organic, explosive, and bio-molecules that have unique spectral signature at the terahertz frequencies.

Authors:
;  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2]
  1. Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371 (Singapore)
  2. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 87074 (United States)
  3. XLIM, Limoges University, CNRS, UMR 7252, 7 rue Jules Vallès, F-19100 Brive (France)
  4. Key Lab of All Optical Network and Advanced Telecommunication Network of EMC, Institute of Lightwave Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 (China)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22415117
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 106; Journal Issue: 3; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DIELECTRIC MATERIALS; IMPEDANCE; MICROWAVE RADIATION; PLASMONS; THZ RANGE

Citation Formats

Cong, Longqing, Singh, Ranjan, Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Tan, Siyu, Key Lab of All Optical Network and Advanced Telecommunication Network of EMC, Institute of Lightwave Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, Yahiaoui, Riad, Yan, Fengping, and Zhang, Weili. Experimental demonstration of ultrasensitive sensing with terahertz metamaterial absorbers: A comparison with the metasurfaces. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4906109.
Cong, Longqing, Singh, Ranjan, Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Tan, Siyu, Key Lab of All Optical Network and Advanced Telecommunication Network of EMC, Institute of Lightwave Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, Yahiaoui, Riad, Yan, Fengping, & Zhang, Weili. Experimental demonstration of ultrasensitive sensing with terahertz metamaterial absorbers: A comparison with the metasurfaces. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4906109
Cong, Longqing, Singh, Ranjan, Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Tan, Siyu, Key Lab of All Optical Network and Advanced Telecommunication Network of EMC, Institute of Lightwave Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, Yahiaoui, Riad, Yan, Fengping, and Zhang, Weili. 2015. "Experimental demonstration of ultrasensitive sensing with terahertz metamaterial absorbers: A comparison with the metasurfaces". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4906109.
@article{osti_22415117,
title = {Experimental demonstration of ultrasensitive sensing with terahertz metamaterial absorbers: A comparison with the metasurfaces},
author = {Cong, Longqing and Singh, Ranjan and Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371 and Tan, Siyu and Key Lab of All Optical Network and Advanced Telecommunication Network of EMC, Institute of Lightwave Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044 and Yahiaoui, Riad and Yan, Fengping and Zhang, Weili},
abstractNote = {Planar metasurfaces and plasmonic resonators have shown great promise for sensing applications across the electromagnetic domain ranging from the microwaves to the optical frequencies. However, these sensors suffer from lower figure of merit and sensitivity due to the radiative and the non-radiative loss channels in the plasmonic metamaterial systems. We demonstrate a metamaterial absorber based ultrasensitive sensing scheme at the terahertz frequencies with significantly enhanced sensitivity and an order of magnitude higher figure of merit compared to planar metasurfaces. Magnetic and electric resonant field enhancement in the impedance matched absorber cavity enables stronger interaction with the dielectric analyte. This finding opens up opportunities for perfect metamaterial absorbers to be applied as efficient sensors in the finger print region of the electromagnetic spectrum with several organic, explosive, and bio-molecules that have unique spectral signature at the terahertz frequencies.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4906109},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22415117}, journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
issn = {0003-6951},
number = 3,
volume = 106,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}