Active terahertz metamaterial devices
Active terahertz metamaterial devices
复制标题
DOI：
10.1038/nature05343
复制
发表时间：
2006-11-30
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Averitt, Richard D.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chen, Hou-Tong;Padilla, Willie J.;Averitt, Richard D.
人工结构电磁材料的发展，被称为超材料，已经导致实现自然材料无法获得的现象(1)。这对于技术上相关的太赫兹（1太赫兹= 10（12）赫兹）频率制度尤其重要；许多材料本身对太赫兹辐射没有反应，而在这个范围内建造设备所必需的工具——光源、透镜、开关、调制器和探测器——基本上不存在。鉴于太赫兹辐射的有用的潜在应用，正在进行相当大的努力来填补这一“太赫兹差距”（2-7）。太赫兹的产生和探测取得了适度进展(8)；太赫兹量子级联激光器是最近的一个例子(9)。然而，控制和操纵太赫兹波的技术是落后的。在这里，我们展示了一种能够有效实时控制和操纵太赫兹辐射的有源超材料装置。该装置由制造在半导体衬底上的金电谐振器元件（超材料）阵列组成。超材料阵列和衬底一起有效地形成了肖特基二极管，使太赫兹传输的调制率提高了50%，比现有设备提高了一个数量级（10）。
The development of artificially structured electromagnetic materials, termed metamaterials, has led to the realization of phenomena that cannot be obtained with natural materials(1). This is especially important for the technologically relevant terahertz ( 1 THz = 10(12) Hz) frequency regime; many materials inherently do not respond to THz radiation, and the tools that are necessary to construct devices operating within this range - sources, lenses, switches, modulators and detectors - largely do not exist. Considerable efforts are underway to fill this 'THz gap' in view of the useful potential applications of THz radiation(2-7). Moderate progress has been made in THz generation and detection(8); THz quantum cascade lasers are a recent example(9). However, techniques to control and manipulate THz waves are lagging behind. Here we demonstrate an active metamaterial device capable of efficient real-time control and manipulation of THz radiation. The device consists of an array of gold electric resonator elements ( the metamaterial) fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. The metamaterial array and substrate together effectively form a Schottky diode, which enables modulation of THz transmission by 50 per cent, an order of magnitude improvement over existing devices(10).