Mid-infrared tunable metamaterials
| DWPI Title: Optical device for tunable metamaterial, has array of resonators that is coupled at resonant frequency to substrate and resonator unit is conformed as two or more coupled resonator arms having different resonant frequencies |
| Abstract: A mid-infrared tunable metamaterial comprises an array of resonators on a semiconductor substrate having a large dependence of dielectric function on carrier concentration and a semiconductor plasma resonance that lies below the operating range, such as indium antimonide. Voltage biasing of the substrate generates a resonance shift in the metamaterial response that is tunable over a broad operating range. The mid-infrared tunable metamaterials have the potential to become the building blocks of chip based active optical devices in mid-infrared ranges, which can be used for many applications, such as thermal imaging, remote sensing, and environmental monitoring. |
| Use: Optical device for tunable metamaterial. |
| Advantage: The damping time in the semiconductor impacts the amount of the effect that free carriers can have on the dielectric constant, where longer damping times lead to both greater tuning and lower losses. To minimize the scattering from surface roughness during the transmission measurement, the backside of the samples was polished using a grinder-polisher. When reverse bias is applied to a resonator arm, the refractive index in the substrate portion underlying that arm increases due to the expanded depletion region, leading to a shift in the resonance toward longer wavelengths. A switch is readily implemented, so that an operator can select among biasing schemes to produce more diverse tuning and/or modulation behavior. |
| Novelty: The device has a unit that is dimensioned to have resonant frequency responsive to stimulation by frequency of electromagnetic radiation in a range of operating frequencies 15 THz. The bias circuit is adapted to apply bias voltage between substrate and the array of resonators (11). The substrate has a semiconductor plasma resonance lying below operating frequency range. The array of resonators is electromagnetically coupled one resonant frequency to substrate. Each resonator unit is conformed as electromagnetically coupled resonator arms having different resonant frequencies. |
| Filed: 12/17/2012 |
| Application Number: US13716324A |
| Tech ID: SD 12326.0 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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