Reconfigurable Molecularization of Terahertz Meta-Atoms
Hyunseung Jung, Hyunwoo Jo, Wonwoo Lee, Moon Sung Kang, Hojin Lee
Abstract
Active terahertz metamaterial devices with controllable resonance properties have been commonly investigated. However, owing to the limited tunability of their frequencies and low-quality factor resonances, these devices are difficult to adopt as single-device filters that can actively adjust diverse spectral information. Moreover, they typically require complex instrumentation for regulating terahertz waves. In this paper, we propose reconfigurable molecularization of terahertz meta-atoms allowing on-demand realization of resonance characteristics in a single active terahertz metasurface. This is achieved by selectively controlling the electrical connections between the meta-atoms using micropatterned ion-gel gating structures. Based on this operation scheme, the resonance characteristics of the terahertz metamaterial can be controlled electrically, and it can serve as a multistate, transmissive metamaterial filter with resonance frequencies tunable from 0.5 to 1.3 THz. In addition, the reconfigurable molecularization of terahertz meta-atoms allows producing a transmissive metamaterial showing controllable transmission resonance to terahertz waves. Exploiting the versatility of an active metasurface, we demonstrate terahertz dichromatic vision distinguishing different saccharides without using spectroscopy systems.