Switchable terahertz polarization converter based on VO2 metamaterial

A switchable terahertz (THz) polarization converter based on vanadium dioxide (VO₂) metamaterial is proposed. It is a 5-layer structure which containing metal split-ring-resonator (SRR), the first polyimide (PI) spacer, VO₂ film, the second PI spacer, and metal grating. It is an array structure and the period in x and y directions is 100 μm. The performance is simulated by using finite integration technology. The simulation results show that, when the VO₂ is in insulating state, the device is a transmission polarization converter. The cross-linear polarization conversion can be realized in a broadband of 0.70 THz, and the polarization conversion rate (PCR) is higher than 99%. Under thermal stimulus, the VO₂ changes from insulating state to metallic state, and the device is a reflective polarization converter. The linear-to-circular polarization conversion can be successfully realized in a broadband of 0.50 THz, and the PCR is higher than 88%.     

Metamaterial polarization converter analysis: limits of performance

In this paper, we analyze the theoretical limits of a metamaterial-based converter with orthogonal linear eigenpolarizations that allow linear-to-elliptical polarization transformation with any desired ellipticity and ellipse orientation. We employ the transmission line approach providing a needed level of the design generalization. Our analysis reveals that the maximal conversion efficiency for transmission through a single metamaterial layer is 50 %, while the realistic reflection configuration can give the conversion efficiency up to 90 %. We show that a double layer transmission converter and a single layer with a ground plane can have 100 % polarization conversion efficiency. We tested our conclusions numerically reaching the designated limits of efficiency using a simple metamaterial design. Our general analysis provides useful guidelines for the metamaterial polarization converter design for virtually any frequency range of the electromagnetic waves.     

Wideband switchable dual-functional terahertz polarization converter based on vanadium dioxide-assisted metasurface

The terahertz technology has attracted considerable attention because of its potential applications in various fields.However,the research of functional devices,including polarization converters,remains a major demand for practical applications.In this work,a reflective dual-functional terahertz metadevice is presented,which combines two different polarization conversions through using a switchable metasurface.Different functions can be achieved because of the insulator-to-metal transition of vanadium dioxide(VO₂).At room temperature,the metadevice can be regarded as a linear-to-linear polarization convertor containing a gold circular split-ring resonator(CSRR),first polyimide(PI)spacer,continuous VO₂ film,second PI spacer,and gold substrate.The converter possesses a polarization conversion ratio higher than 0.9 and a bandwidth ratio of 81%in a range from 0.912 THz to 2.146 THz.When the temperature is above the insulator-to-metal transition temperature(approximately 68℃)and VO₂ becomes a metal,the metasurface transforms into a wideband linear-to-circular polarization converter composed of the gold CSRR,first PI layer,and continuous VO₂ film.The ellipticity is close to-1,while the axis ratio is lower than 3 dB in a range of 1.07 THz-1.67 THz.The metadevice also achieves a large angle tolerance and large manufacturing tolerance.     

Dual-broadband and near-perfect polarization converter based on anisotropic metasurface

A novel dual-broadband and near-perfect reflective polarization converter based on anisotropic metasurface is presented and analyzed in this paper. The unit cell of the proposed converter is composed of a double-cut slotted metallic split-ring and a metallic ground sheet separated by an F4B-2 substrate. Both numerical analysis and measured results demonstrate that the proposed converter has five plasmon resonance frequencies, and can near-completely convert the x- or y-polarized incident wave to its orthogonal counterpart in two frequency bands (9.5–12.9 GHz, 16.1–20.2 GHz). The corresponding polarization conversion ratio is more than 98.3% in the first frequency band and 99.7% in the second one. In addition, the bandwidths and central frequencies of the two frequency bands can be effectively tuned over a wide range by adjusting the geometrical dimensions of the metasurface, while the high conversion efficiency is preserved. The proposed polarization converter may have great potentials in electromagnetic polarization control applications.     

基于谐振环的太赫兹宽带偏振转换器件研究

提出了一个基于谐振环结构的宽带且高效的太赫兹线偏振转换器.该结构由金属-电介质-金属三层构成,位于顶层的是基于开口谐振环的超表面,中间为介质层,底部为金属板.实验结果表明,该结构可以在0.59-1.24 THz频率范围内将线偏振的太赫兹波偏振方向旋转90°,转换率超过80%.通过计算该结构在所研究的频率范围内反射光的偏振角和椭圆角,证实了该结构可以在较宽的频率范围内实现高效的线偏振转换.对该结构在偏振转换率高的频率下表面电流和电场进行仿真,分析了高偏振转换率和宽带的机理.同时,研究了该结构的偏振转换率对入射角以及偏振角的依赖性,结果表明该结构在0°-30°入射角范围内、-10°-10°偏振角范围内均有很好的偏振转换性能.     

基于二氧化钒宽、窄带可切换的双功能超材料吸收器研究

本文提出了一种宽、窄带可切换的双功能超材料吸收器.在超材料吸收器的结构中,引入了相变材料二氧化钒(VO2),仅利用单个可切换超表面就能实现不同的功能,其不同功能之间的相互转换通过VO2绝缘态和金属态之间的可逆相变特性实现.当VO2处于金属态时,设计的结构可以看作一个超材料宽带吸收器.仿真结果表明,在1.55THz至2....     

Extremely-broad band metamaterial absorber for solar energy harvesting based on star shaped resonator

A new metamaterial absorber (MA) is investigated and shown numerically for solar energy harvesting for future solar cell applications. The structure consists of two metals and one dielectric layer having different thicknesses. Owing to this combination, the structure exhibits plasmonic resonance characteristics. In the entire spectrum of visible frequency region, the obtained results show that investigated structure has perfect absorptivity which is above 91.8%. Proposed structure also has 99.87% absorption at 613.94 THz and 99% absorption between 548 and 669 THz. The proposed structure also shows both polarization and angle independency for the entire visible region. The MA based solar cell proposes high absorption with an upper ratio of 90% in the widest range of visible spectrum comparing to the studies in literature. Hence, the proposed metamaterial absorber solar cells can be used for invisibility in entire spectrum of visible light. The absorption characteristics of the solar absorber are also investigated for infrared and ultraviolet region. The enhancement of absorption of the structure will provide new type of sensors in these frequency ranges.     

Polarization-independent broadband terahertz chiral metamaterials on flexible substrate

A THz band-reject filter is designed based on chiral four-fold rotational symmetry metamaterial. This filter was fabricated by laser micro-lens array lithography and characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The resonant frequencies at different twist angles are almost the same, which demonstrates the polarization independence of the structure. The electric field distribution is simulated to explain the physics mechanism behind the polarization independence. By stacking multiple metamaterial layers together, a THz broadband reject filter at a bandwidth of 0.461 THz is experimentally achieved.     

基于超材料的中波红外宽带偏振转换研究

基于硅纳米块阵列和亚波长金属光栅,硅纳米块长轴与金属光栅夹角为45°,本文设计了一种高效、宽带偏振转换结构.模拟计算表明该结构实现了线偏振光90°旋转,在3.4—4.5μm波段偏振转换率大于60%,在3—5μm光谱范围内的转换对比率大于10~4.由于该结构光学性能优异,制备难度低,可以应用于光传输控制.     

A simple design of ultra-broadband and polarization insensitive terahertz metamaterial absorber

Ultra-broadband metamaterial absorbers have attracted considerable attention due to their great prospect for practical applications. These absorbers are usually stacked by many (no. <20) different shaped or sized subunits in a unit cell, making it quite troublesome to be fabricated. Simple design for ultra-broadband absorber is urgently necessary. Herein, we propose a simple design of ultra-broadband and polarization insensitive terahertz metamaterial absorber based on a double-layered composite structure on a metallic board, and each layer consists of two sets of different sized square metallic plates. Greater than 90 % absorption is obtained across a frequency range of 0.85 THz with the central frequency around 1.60 THz. The relative absorption bandwidth of the device is greatly improved to 53.3 %, which is much larger than previous results. The mechanism of the ultra-broadband absorber is attributed to the overlapping of four closely resonance frequencies. The proposed metamaterial absorber has potential applications in detection, imaging and stealth technology.     

An ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber based on the hybrid materials in the visible region

In this paper, an ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber is successfully designed in the visible region. The structure of the absorber is just obtained by the two-dimensional plane structure which rotate 90° along x-axis. Furthermore, the formation of the structure for the hybrid materials is based on the four U-shaped structure of the metal titanium is embedded in the semiconductor (indium antimonide). The simulated results show that the proposed metamaterial absorber can achieve an ultra-broadband absorption with greater than 90% from 252.2 to 822.3 THz, and the relative absorption bandwidth gets to 106.1%. Finally, the simulated electric field, surface current and power loss density distributions further illustrate the absorption mechanism of the metamaterial absorber. And we believe the metamaterial absorber will have many potential applications in energy harvesting and stealth devices.     

基于狄拉克半金属的可调谐的太赫兹宽频带纯线偏振转换器

本文基于新型材料狄拉克半金属(Dirac semimetals,DSs),设计了一款高纯度宽频带可调谐线偏振转换器,偏振转换率(PCR)超过99%的相对带宽为15.72%。在频段5.25~6.14 THz内,椭度角接近0°,偏振方位角约等于-90°。这种转换性能主要是源于顶层超表面的各向异性和局域的表面等离子体激元谐振(LSPRs)的激发。此外,通过改变费米能的大小可以使所设计的偏振转换器在不同的频带范围内实现宽频带偏振转换。最后,通过半解析的方法对偏振转换特性进行了理论分析。该设计在太赫兹通信、成像、无损检测等领域具有一定的应用价值,同时为宽频带可调谐太赫兹线偏振转换器的设计提供了新思路。     

基于石墨烯编码超构材料的太赫兹波束多功能动态调控

提出了一种基于石墨烯带的太赫兹波段的1 bit编码超构材料,可以实现太赫兹波束的数目、频率、幅度等参数多功能动态调控.该结构由金属薄膜、聚酰亚胺、硅、二氧化硅、石墨烯带组成.通过对石墨烯带施加两种不同的电压,可以实现一定频率范围内相位差接近180?的"0"和"1"数字编码单元,进而构成1 bit动态可控的编码超构材料.全波仿真结果表明,不同序列的编码超构材料能够实现波束数目从单波束、双波束、多波束到宽波束的调控.相同序列的编码超构材料,通过施加石墨烯带的不同电压能够实现宽频段波束频率的偏移.对于000000或者111111周期序列的编码超构材料,通过施加石墨烯带的不同电压还能够实现波束幅度的调控.因此这种基于石墨烯带的编码超构材料为灵活调控太赫兹波提供了一种新的途径,将在雷达隐身、成像、宽带通信等方面具有重要的意义.     

Switching between the Functions of Half-Wave Plate and Quarter-Wave Plate Simply by Using a Vanadium Dioxide Film in a Terahertz Metamaterial

We propose a switchable THz metamaterial that can be switched between two functions of half-wave plate and quarter-wave plate.The two switchable functions can be simply achieved by inserting a VO_2 film in the metamaterial design.Finite-difference time-domain(FDTD) simulation results show that the proposed metamaterial can convert x-polarized incident wave to y-polarized reflected wave when VO_2 is at metal phase,and convert x-polarized wave to circularly polarized wave when VO_2 is at insulator phase.The metamaterial performs well in the two functions,i.e.,the same broad working frequency band and near perfect polarization conversion.The switching effect originates from the switchable Fabry-Perot cavity length induced by the phase change of VO_2.We believe that our findings provide a reference in designing switchable metamaterials.     

Asymmetric chiral metamaterial circular polarizer based on twisted split-ring resonator

An asymmetric chiral metamaterial (CMM) circular polarizer based on bilayer twisted split-ring resonator structure was proposed and investigated. Both numerical simulations and experiments reveal that when a y-polarized wave is incident on this CMM propagating along backward (?z) direction, the two linear components of the transmitted wave have nearly equal amplitudes and 90°(?90°) phase difference at the resonant frequencies. This means that the right-hand circular polarization and left-hand circular polarization are realized in transmission at 6.4 and 8.1 GHz, respectively. The surface current distributions are studied to illustrate the transformation behavior for both circular polarizations. Further, the influences of the structural parameters of the circular polarizer to the transformation transmissions spectra have been investigated numerically.     

Photoexcited Blueshift and Redshift Switchable Metamaterial Absorber at Terahertz Frequencies

We propose a design and numerical study of an optically blueshift and redshift switchable metamaterial(MM)absorber in the terahertz regime. The MM absorber comprises a periodic array of metallic split-ring resonators(SRRs) with semiconductor silicon embedded in the gaps of MM resonators. The absorptive frequencies of the MM can be shifted by applying an external pump power. The simulation results show that, for photoconductivity of silicon ranging between 1 S/m and 4000 S/m, the resonance peak of the absorption spectra shifts to higher frequencies, from 0.67 THz to 1.63 THz, with a resonance tuning range of 59%. As the conductivity of silicon increases, the resonance frequencies of the MM absorber are continuously tuned from 1.60 THz to 1.16 THz, a redshift tuning range of 28%. As the conductivity increases above 30000 S/m, the resonance frequencies tend to be stable while the absorption peak has a merely tiny variation. The optical-tuned absorber has potential applications as a terahertz modulator or switch.     

Dual-band and high-efficiency polarization converter based on metasurfaces at microwave frequencies

We present a dual-band and high-efficiency polarization converter in microwave regime. The proposed converter can convert a linearly polarized wave to its cross-polarized wave for two distinct bands: Ku (11.5–20.0 GHz) and Ka (28.8–34.0 GHz). It can also convert the linearly polarized wave to a circularly polarized wave at four other frequencies. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulation results for both frequency bands. The polarization conversion ratio is above 0.94 for the Ku-band and 0.90 for the Ka-band. Furthermore, the converter can achieve dual-band and high-efficiency polarization conversion over angles of incidence up to 45°. The converter is also polarization-selective in that only the x- and y-polarized waves can be converted. The physical mechanism of the dual-band polarization conversion effect is interpreted via decomposed electric field components that couple with different plasmon resonance modes of the structure.     

人工异向介质调控电磁波极化特性的实验与仿真研究

电磁波的极化特性在通信、导航和雷达等方面已逐渐得到应用.为了有效控制电磁波的极化状态, 本文设计了一种基于开口环结构的人工异向介质.该人工异向介质由开口环结构,电介质基底和金属背板组成, 可以将入射的线性极化波完整地转换为圆极化波,椭圆极化波以及和入射波极化方向垂直的线极化波. 本文通过实验和仿真验证了本文的设计,实验结果和仿真结果符合较好.     

基于圆台结构的超宽带极化不敏感太赫兹吸收器

本文提出一种基于圆台形吸收单元的超宽带、极化不敏感的超材料太赫兹吸收器. 该超材料吸收器采用金属薄膜金和介质层二氧化硅交替叠加的多层结构. 采用商业软件CST Studio Suite 2009时域求解器计算了其在0–10 THz波段内的吸收率A（ω）,在2–10 THz之间实现了对入射太赫兹波的超宽频带强吸收. 仿真结果表明,由于其圆台形单元结构,在器件垂直方向上形成一系列不同尺寸的微型吸收器,产生了吸收频点相连的多频吸收峰. 利用不同吸收峰的耦合叠加效应,获得超过8 THz的超宽带太赫兹波吸收,吸收强度达到92.3%以上. 这一结构具有超宽带强吸收,360°极化不敏感以及易于加工等优越特性,因而在太赫兹波探测器、光谱成像以及隐身技术方面具有潜在的应用. 关键词： 太赫兹波 超材料吸收器 圆台结构 超宽带     

Arbitrary linear THz wave polarization converter with cracked cross meta-surface

This Letter presents a double-layer structure combining a cracked cross meta-surface and grating surface to realize arbitrary incident linear terahertz(THz) wave polarization conversion. The arbitrary incident linear polarization THz wave will be induced with the same resonant modes in the unit cell, which results in polarization conversion insensitive to the linear polarization angle. Moreover, the zigzag-shaped resonant surface current leads to a strong magnetic resonance between the meta-surface and gratings, which enhances the conversion efficiency. The experimental results show that a more than 70% conversion rate can be achieved under arbitrary linear polarization within a wide frequency band. Moreover, around 0.89 THz nearly perfect polarization conversion is realized.