Active multifunctional terahertz modulator based on plasmonic metasurface

Multifunctional ultrathin reflective metasurface via polarization-decoupled phase for arbitrary circularly or elliptically polarized waves

Metasurface offers a promising platform in the design of multifunctional devices owing to its unique ability for EMWs manipulation. However, wave-manipulation capabilities for metasurfaces face challenges in manipulating orthogonal EMWs with arbitrary circularly or elliptically polarized EMWs in the microwave region. Herein, single-layer reflective metasurfaces are proposed for independent manipulation of an arbitrary set of orthogonal circularly or elliptically polarized EMWs via polarization-decoupled phase. Taking advantage of single-layer anisotropic meta-atoms, the proposed metasurface can act as a tandem phase modulator, which introduces polarization-decoupled phase profiles for arbitrary circularly and elliptically polarized EMWs based on the Jones matrix. In this way, the proposed metasurface can distinguish a set of orthogonal EMWs with circular or elliptical polarization states and impose arbitrary phase profiles on them independently and simultaneously. For proof-of-concept, bifunctional metasurfaces operating in the microwave region are presented for independent manipulation of three different sets of orthogonal circularly or elliptically polarized EMWs. They create dual independent channels associated with a pair of orthogonal polarization states, performing functions including polarization beam splitting and orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing. Measured and simulated results show a good agreement, confirming that the proposed single-layer reflective metasurfaces are efficient devices that enable meta-devices to independently control arbitrary circular and elliptical polarized EMWs, achieving arbitrary functionalities.

Active control of terahertz waves based on p-Si hybrid PIT metasurface device under avalanche breakdown

Active control of terahertz waves is a critical application for terahertz devices. Silicon is widely used in large-scale integrated circuit and optoelectronic devices, and also shows great potential in the terahertz field. In this paper, a p-Si hybrid metasurface device is proposed and its terahertz characteristics under avalanche breakdown effect is investigated. In the study, a plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) effect caused by the near-field coupling of the bright mode and the dark mode is observed in the transmission spectrum. Due to avalanche breakdown effect, the resonance of the PIT metamaterial disappears as the current increased. Carriers existed in the interface between the metasurface and substrate result to a dipole resonance suppression. When the current continues increasing, the maximal modulation depth can reach up to 99.9%, caused by the avalanche effect of p-Si. Experimental results demonstrate that the avalanche breakdown p-Si can achieve a performance modulation depth, bringing much more possibilities for terahertz devices.

Switchable multifunctional modulator realized by the stacked graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterial unit cells

A tunable multifunctional modulator of the stacked graphene-based hyperbolic metamaterial (HM) cells is proposed. The dielectric constant and group index of HM are theoretically investigated. The calculated results show that, for the cell structure, a transmission window in the reflection zone (TWRZ) can be obtained at the normal incidence, but all reflections are converted to the transmission when the incident angle is near 82°. Concurrently, a single frequency absorption in the transmission zone (SFATZ) is realized, which can be adjusted by the chemical potential of graphene. For the whole structure composed of cell structures with different chemical potentials, the ultra-wideband absorption and transmission window in the absorption zone (TWAZ) can be achieved, which can work in different frequency bands if the given structural parameters can be tailored. Those computed results can apply for switchable frequency-dependent and angle-dependent reflection-transmission modulations, single frequency and ultra-wideband absorbers, and a logic switch based on the TWAZ.

Enhanced tunable plasmonic resonance in crumpled graphene resonators loaded with gate tunable metamaterials

Graphene devices have been widely explored for photonic applications, as they serve as promising candidates for controlling light interactions resulting in extreme confinement and tunability of graphene plasmons. The ubiquitous presence of surface crumples in graphene, very less is known on how the crumples in graphene can affect surface plasmon resonance and its absorption properties. In this article, a novel approach based on the crumpled graphene is investigated to realize broadband tunability of plasmonic resonance through the mechanical reconfiguration of crumpled graphene resonators. The mechanical reconfiguration of graphene crumples combined with dual electrostatic gating (i.e. raising the Fermi level from 0.2-0.4 eV) of graphene serves as a tuning knob enabling broad spectral tunability of plasmonic resonance in the wavelength range of 14-24 µm. The crumpled region in the resonators exhibits an effective trapping potential where it extremely confines the surface plasmonic field on the surfaces of crumples providing localized surface plasmon resonance at the apices of these crumples. Finally, to achieve near-unity absorption >99% at the resonance wavelengths (17 µm and 22 µm) crumpled graphene resonators are loaded with four ring shaped metamaterials which result in the enhanced near-field intensity of ≈1.4×10⁶. This study delivers insight into the tunability of crumpled graphene and their coupling mechanism by providing a new platform for the flexible and gate tunable graphene sensors at the infrared region.

Dynamic Absorption Enhancement and Equivalent Resonant Circuit Modeling of Tunable Graphene-Metal Hybrid Antenna

Plasmonic antennas are attractive optical components of the optoelectronic devices, operating in the far-infrared regime for sensing and imaging applications. However, low optical absorption hinders its potential applications, and their performance is limited due to fixed resonance frequency. In this article, a novel gate tunable graphene-metal hybrid plasmonic antenna with stacking configuration is proposed and investigated to achieve tunable performance over a broad range of frequencies with enhanced absorption characteristics. The hybrid graphene-metal antenna geometry is built up with a hexagon radiator that is supported by the Al₂O₃ insulator layer and graphene reflector. This stacked structure is deposited in the high resistive Si wafer substrate, and the hexagon radiator itself is a sandwich structure, which is composed of gold hexagon structure and two multilayer graphene stacks. The proposed antenna characteristics i.e., tunability of frequency, the efficiency corresponding to characteristics modes, and the tuning of absorption spectra, are evaluated by full-wave numerical simulations. Besides, the unity absorption peak that was realized through the proposed geometry is sensitive to the incident angle of TM-polarized incidence waves, which can flexibly shift the maxima of the absorption peak from 30 THz to 34 THz. Finally, an equivalent resonant circuit model for the investigated antenna based on the simulations results is designed to validate the antenna performance. Parametric analysis of the proposed antenna is carried out through altering the geometric parameters and graphene parameters in the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) studio. This clearly shows that the proposed antenna has a resonance frequency at 33 THz when the graphene sheet Fermi energy is increased to 0.3 eV by applying electrostatic gate voltage. The good agreement of the simulation and equivalent circuit model results makes the graphene-metal antenna suitable for the realization of far-infrared sensing and imaging device containing graphene antenna with enhanced performance.

Metal-graphene hybridized plasmon induced transparency in the terahertz frequencies

In this work, metal-graphene hybridized plasmon induced transparency (PIT) is systematically studied in the proposed simple metal/dielectric/graphene system. The PIT effect is the result of the coupling between the bright dipolar modes excited in the graphene regions under the shorter metallic bars and the dark quadrupolar modes excited in the graphene regions under the longer metallic bars. The coupled Lorentz oscillator model is used to help explain the physical origin of the PIT effect. Other than being tuned by the distance and the lateral displacement of the orthogonal metallic bars, the coupling efficiency can be further enhanced by the in-phase coupling or quenched by the out-of-phase coupling between the adjacent unit cells. Reduced barrier thickness will result in the enhancement of the coupling strengths and the scaling down of the device. Finally, we show that the PIT window can be actively tuned by changing the Fermi energy of graphene. The proposed structure has potential applications in actively tunable THz modulators, sensors and filters.