Terahertz metamaterials

Hou-Tong Chen; John F. O'Hara; Abul K. Azad; Willie J. Padilla; Richard D. Averitt; Antoinette J. Taylor

doi:10.1117/12.812052

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6 February 2009 Terahertz metamaterials

Hou-Tong Chen, John F. O'Hara, Abul K. Azad, Willie J. Padilla, Richard D. Averitt, Antoinette J. Taylor

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Proceedings Volume 7214, Ultrafast Phenomena in Semiconductors and Nanostructure Materials XIII; 721417 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.812052
Event: SPIE OPTO: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices, 2009, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

In this paper we present our recent developments in terahertz (THz) metamaterials and devices. Planar THz metamaterials and their complementary structures fabricated on suitable substrates have shown electric resonant response, which causes the band-pass or band-stop property in THz transmission and reflection. The operational frequency can be further tuned up to 20% upon photoexcitation of an integrated semiconductor region in the split-ring resonators as the metamaterial elements. On the other hand, the use of semiconductors as metamaterial substrates enables dynamical control of metamaterial resonances through photoexcitation, and reducing the substrate carrier lifetime further enables an ultrafast switching recovery. The metamaterial resonances can also be actively controlled by application of a voltage bias when they are fabricated on semiconductor substrates with appropriate doping concentration and thickness. Using this electrically driven approach, THz modulation depth up to 80% and modulation speed of 2 MHz at room temperature have been demonstrated, which suggests practical THz applications.

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Hou-Tong Chen, John F. O'Hara, Abul K. Azad, Willie J. Padilla, Richard D. Averitt, and Antoinette J. Taylor "Terahertz metamaterials", Proc. SPIE 7214, Ultrafast Phenomena in Semiconductors and Nanostructure Materials XIII, 721417 (6 February 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.812052

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