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

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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.

© 2018 Optical Society of America

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Figures (9)

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. (a) 2D and (b),(c) 3D of the schematic illustration of the proposed biosensor.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Simulated reflection amplitude (S11 parameter) spectra versus frequency.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Far-IR amplitude of the reflectance spectra of the proposed microstructure versus frequency for various amounts of asymmetric geometrical parameters (5g2<20μm) to show far-field interactions.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Far-IR amplitude of the reflectance spectra of the proposed microstructure versus frequency for various amount of asymmetric geometrical parameter (0g2<5μm) to show near-field interactions.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Surface current flow and electric field distributions (Ex) of the microstructure (a),(b) in the symmetric case g2=g3=20μm from the xz-plane view; and in the asymmetric case of g2=0μm, (c),(d) at the valley resonance frequency of 0.43 THz and (e),(f) at the peak resonance frequency of the Cl-EIR effect ωCl-EIR=0.51THz from the xz-plane view.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. (a) Reflectance spectra of the far-IR biosensor at T=300K using InSb as the semiconductor and quartz as the substrate material with different surrounding materials (dielectric material of the antennas) in the asymmetric case of g2=1μm to verify the biosensing application. (b) The increasing trend of the frequency shift when the surrounding medium of the microstructure is changed.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7. (a) Simulated results of reflectance spectra using InSb as the semiconductor material in the asymmetric case of g2=2μm at different temperatures. (b) The increasing trend of the percentage of the reflection and frequency shift caused by increasing the temperature of the semiconductor thin-film layer.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. (a) Reflection spectra of the microstructure at T=300K using three different semiconductors as presented in the plot in the asymmetric case of g2=2μm. (b) The changing trend of the Cl-EIR frequency and the amplitude of the reflection using different semiconductor materials.
Fig. 9.
Fig. 9. (a) Reflectance spectrum of the proposed far-IR biosensor at T=300K using InSb as the semiconductor and PMMA as the dielectric antenna’s material with different substrates in the asymmetric case of g2=2μm. (b) The decreasing trend of the percentage of the reflection caused by changing the substrate material.

Tables (1)

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Table 1. Refractive Index (RI) and the Electric Permittivity (ε) of the Materials Used as Antennas

Equations (3)

Equations on this page are rendered with MathJax. Learn more.

ε=εωp2ω2+iγ0ω.
ωp=Ne2ε0m*,
N=5.76×1014T32exp(0.13KBT),
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