Materials and Mechanics of Metamaterial Enhanced MEMS for Terahertz Technology
Abstract
Recently, artificially structured electromagnetic materials have become an extremely active research area because of the possibility of creating materials which exhibit novel electromagnetic responses not available in natural materials, such as negative refractive index. Such electromagnetic composites, often called metamaterials, are sub-wavelength composites where the electromagnetic response originates from oscillating electrons in highly conducting metals such as gold or copper allowing for a design specific resonant response of the electrical permittivity or magnetic permeability. This is especially important for the technologically relevant terahertz frequency regime where there is a strong need to create components to realize applications ranging from spectroscopic identification of hazardous materials to noninvasive imaging. Over the past years, the PIs and their team at Boston University have worked on fundamental research combining metamaterials with MEMS (microelectromechancial systems or microsystems) at terahertz frequencies. The team has developed metamaterial enhanced resonant detectors with a simple fabrication process for active terahertz sensing and detection applications. The team has published papers in top journals including Nature, Physical Review Letters, and Advanced Materials. Their work has also been highlighted by Science, Nature, and MRS Bulletin. In addition, two PhD students have won Boston University Best Dissertation Awards through working on this project.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 23, 2013
- Accession Number
- AD1011132
Entities
People
- Xin Zhang
Organizations
- Boston University