Terahertz investigation of bound states in the continuum of metallic metasurfaces

Abstract

The concept of “bound states in the continuum” (BIC) describes an idealized physical system exhibiting zero radiative loss composed, for example, of an infinitely extended array of resonators. In principle, vanishing of radiative losses enables an infinitely high-quality factor and corresponding infinite lifetime of the resonance. As such, BIC inspired metasurfaces and photonic designs aim to achieve superior performance in various applications including sensing and lasing. We describe an analytical model based on temporal coupled mode theory to realize an “accidental” (i.e., parameter-tuned) Friedrich–Wintgen BIC. Further, we experimentally verify this model with measurements of quasi-BICs in a metallic terahertz metasurface (MS) and the corresponding complementary metasurface (CMS) using terahertz time domain spectroscopy. For the MS and CMS structures, quality factors of ∼ 20 are achieved, limited by non-radiative intrinsic loss in the materials. Our results reveal that Babinet’s principle qualitatively holds for the MS and CMS quasi-BIC structures. In addition, ultra-high electric and magnetic field enhancement MS and CMS structures, respectively, are presented.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Nov 03, 2020
Source ID
10.1364/optica.404754

Entities

People

  • Chunxu Chen
  • Ian Hammock
  • Kelson Kaj
  • Richard D. Averitt
  • Xiaoguang Zhao
  • Xin Zhang
  • Yuwei Huang

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • National Science Foundation

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.