Graphene-enabled electrically controlled terahertz meta-lens

Abstract

Metasurfaces have become a new photonic structure for providing potential applications to develop integrated devices with small thickness, because they can introduce an abrupt phase change by arrays of scatterers. To be applied more widely, active metasurface devices are highly desired. Here, a tunable terahertz meta-lens whose focal length is able to be electrically tuned by ∼4.45λ is demonstrated experimentally. The lens consists of a metallic metasurface and a monolayer graphene. Due to the dependence of the abrupt phase change of the metasurface on the graphene chemical potential, which can be modulated using an applied gate voltage, the focal length is changed from 10.46 to 12.24 mm when the gate voltage increases from 0 to 2.0 V. Experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical hypothesis. This type of electrically controlled meta-lens could widen the application of terahertz technology.