Semiconductor-based far-infrared biosensor by optical control of light propagation using THz metamaterial

Abstract

By incorporating a dielectric material into a semiconductor thin film, we have demonstrated an optically reconfigurable classical electromagnetically induced reflectance (Cl-EIR) effect in planar metamaterials (MMs) functioning at the far-infrared (far-IR) frequency regime. The proposed far-IR sensor is a microstructure composed of a semiconductor thin film and three dielectric antennas. Numerical analyses based on the far- and near-field interaction are investigated in detail. The coupling between the subradiant and supperradiant modes verify the existence of the Cl-EIR effect. The Cl-EIR frequency could be tuned by changing the surrounding medium, the temperature of the semiconductor layer, the semiconductor material, and the substrate material. Therefore, the proposed complementary MM microstructure, based on a semiconductor featuring tunable reflectance windows, may open up new avenues for designing tunable temperature sensors, optical and biomedical sensors, switches, and slow light devices.