Integrated Terahertz Generator-Manipulators Using Epsilon-near-Zero-Hybrid Nonlinear Metasurfaces

Yongchang Lu; Xi Feng; Qingwei Wang; Xueqian Zhang; Ming Fang; Wei E I Sha; Zhixiang Huang; Quan Xu; Li Niu; Xieyu Chen; Chunmei Ouyang; Yuanmu Yang; Xixiang Zhang; Eric Plum; Shuang Zhang; Jiaguang Han; Weili Zhang

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02372

Integrated Terahertz Generator-Manipulators Using Epsilon-near-Zero-Hybrid Nonlinear Metasurfaces

Nano Lett. 2021 Sep 22;21(18):7699-7707. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02372. Epub 2021 Sep 9.

Authors

Yongchang Lu^{1

2}, Xi Feng^{1

2}, Qingwei Wang^{1

2}, Xueqian Zhang¹, Ming Fang³, Wei E I Sha⁴, Zhixiang Huang³, Quan Xu¹, Li Niu¹, Xieyu Chen¹, Chunmei Ouyang¹, Yuanmu Yang⁵, Xixiang Zhang², Eric Plum⁶, Shuang Zhang⁷, Jiaguang Han¹, Weili Zhang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Center for Terahertz Waves and College of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University and the Key Laboratory of Optoelectronics Information and Technology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin 300072, China.
² Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
³ Key Laboratory of Intelligent Computing and Signal Processing, Ministry of Education, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Electronic Devices and Smart Systems of Zhejiang Province, College of Information Science & Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁶ Optoelectronics Research Centre and Centre for Photonic Metamaterials, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
⁷ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077China.
⁸ School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, United States.

PMID: 34498876
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02372

Abstract

In terahertz (THz) technologies, generation and manipulation of THz waves are two key processes usually implemented by different device modules. Integrating THz generation and manipulation into a single compact device will advance the applications of THz technologies in various fields. Here, we demonstrate a hybrid nonlinear plasmonic metasurface incorporating an epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) indium tin oxide (ITO) layer to seamlessly combine efficient generation and manipulation of THz waves across a wide frequency band. The coupling between the plasmonic resonance of the metasurface and the ENZ mode of the ITO thin film enhances the THz conversion efficiency by more than 4 orders of magnitude. Meanwhile, such a hybrid device is capable of shaping the polarization and wavefront of the emitted THz beam via the engineered nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phases of the plasmonic meta-atoms. The presented hybrid nonlinear metasurface opens a new avenue toward miniaturized integrated THz devices and systems with advanced functionalities.

Keywords: epsilon-near-zero; integrated generator-manipulator; metasurface; nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry phase; terahertz.