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A high-sensitivity and label-free method for identifying a transgenic plant genome is highly desirable in plant biotechnology. Here, we present a terahertz (THz) metamaterial (MM)-based biosensor that comprises a planar array of gold split-ring (SR) resonators capable of sensing a considerable shift in the resonance frequency due to the change of the dielectric environment on the MM chip. The meta-sensor is employed to detect transgenic tomato genome DNAs by THz time-domain spectroscopy. The experimental results were confirmed by finite-element modeling through varying the thickness and dielectric constant of the DNA overlayer. Consequently, high-efficiency and label-free discrimination between the wild-type and transgenic genome DNA was achieved.

A large scale homogenous invisibility cloak functioning at terahertz frequencies is reported. The terahertz invisibility device features a large concealed volume, low loss, and broad bandwidth. In particular, it is capable of hiding objects with a dimension nearly an order of magnitude larger than that of its lithographic counterpart, but without involving complex and time-consuming cleanroom processing., (Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Artificially designed modulators that enable a wealth of freedom in manipulating the terahertz (THz) waves at will are an essential component in THz sources and their widespread applications. Dynamically controlled metasurfaces, being multifunctional, ultrafast, integrable, broadband, high contrasting, and scalable on the operating wavelength, are critical in developing state-of-the-art THz modulators. Recently, external stimuli-triggered THz metasurfaces integrated with functional media have been extensively explored. The vanadium dioxide (VO2)-based hybrid metasurfaces, as a unique path toward active meta-devices, feature an insulator–metal phase transition under the excitation of heat, electricity, and light, etc. During the phase transition, the optical and electrical properties of the VO2 film undergo a massive modification with either a boosted or dropped conductivity by more than four orders of magnitude. Being benefited from the phase transition effect, the electromagnetic response of the VO2-based metasufaces can be actively controlled by applying external excitation. In this review, we present recent advances in dynamically controlled THz metasurfaces exploiting the VO2 phase transition categorized according to the external stimuli. THz time-domain spectroscopy is introduced as an indispensable platform in the studies of functional VO2 films. In each type of external excitation, four design strategies are employed to realize external stimuli-triggered VO2-based THz metasurfaces, including switching the transreflective operation mode, controlling the dielectric environment of metallic microstructures, tailoring the equivalent resonant microstructures, and modifying the electromagnetic properties of the VO2 unit cells. The microstructures' design and electromagnetic responses of the resulting active metasurfaces have been systematically demonstrated, with a particular focus on the critical role of the VO2 films in the dynamic modulation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metasurfaces have proved to possess extraordinary properties and propelled the development of versatile functional devices in the terahertz domain, but the intrinsic dispersion severely impedes their broadband applications. Sporadic studies on achromatic terahertz metasurfaces are either subject to specific polarization operation or challenged in the fabrication process for extended bandwidth and numerical aperture. Herein a novel meta‐atom scheme made up of a silicon–silica–silicon sandwich‐shaped structure is presented that enlarges the propagation phase as well as improves the dispersion engineering capability at low losses. As a classic case, an achromatic metalens is constituted by these meta‐atoms and experimentally demonstrated which shows a remarkable achromatic focusing performance from 0.5 to 1.1 THz with a numerical aperture of 0.47 and an average efficiency as high as 43.1%. Continuous wavelet transformation analysis further proves the metalens has negligible group delay dispersion. This study not only demonstrates an outstanding terahertz achromatic metalens but also provides a novel meta‐atom paradigm for constructing achromatic metasurfaces such as holographic plate, beam deflector, and Bessel axicon, further not limited to THz bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation and manipulation of terahertz (THz) waves are of vital importance for advancing THz technology. Nonlinear metasurfaces allow effective integration of both processes into a single compact device. However, such existing THz devices commonly rely on utilizing a single meta‐atom, which has fixed THz generation properties and thus limits the range of achievable functionalities. Here, it is demonstrate how coupling between different meta‐atoms within the unit‐cell can be used as a degree of freedom for controlling nonlinear THz generation, where achiral coupling provides full control over the amplitude of the generated THz field, while chiral coupling makes the THz generation sensitive to the handedness of the pump polarization. In particular, chiral coupling allows the realization of multiplexed pump‐handedness‐selective nonlinear metasurfaces, which is illustrated experimentally by selectively generating THz beams with different orbital angular momentum with a single nonlinear metasurface. This approach provides opportunities for developing various integrated nonlinear THz devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though accelerating photocarriers by the semiconductor surface electric field is the simplest way to generate broadband terahertz pulses, the weak THz power under low optical pump hinders its application in these compact systems. Here, we report a ⟨100⟩ semi-insulating gallium arsenide nano-hole array under above-the-bandgap excitation, which boosts terahertz emission power up to 5.75 folds of bare gallium arsenide with a 32 mW pump. The nano-structured array lifts the absorption of the optical pump and localizes the photocarriers near the surface of gallium arsenide, benefiting the transient photocurrents and thus the THz power. Interestingly, the enhancement is poorly related to the terahertz frequency, and the power difference of the emitted THz wave under the TE and TM pumps is greatly smoothed. In addition, the THz emission enhancement of the nanoscale hole arrays favors a low-power pump. The demonstration shown here provides a potential route for advancing the weak THz power of surface emission, which will promote the application of the surface emitting THz source in the practical THz systems employing compact femtosecond lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme terahertz (THz) science and technologies, the next disruptive frontier in nonlinear optics, provide multifaceted capabilities for exploring strong light‐matter interactions in a variety of physical systems. However, current techniques involve the need for an extremely high‐field free space THz source that is difficult to generate and has limited investigations to a rather weak and linear regime of light‐matter interactions. Therefore, new approaches are being sought for the tight confinement of THz waves that can induce nonlinear effects. Here, a nonlinear "tera‐nano" metasurface is demonstrated exhibiting extremely large THz nonlinearity and sensitive self‐modulation of resonances at moderate incident THz field strengths. A record deep‐subwavelength (≈λ/33 000) confinement of strongly enhanced (≈3200) THz field in a nano‐gap (15 nm) exhibits remarkable THz field‐tailored nonlinearity. Further, ultrafast injection of photocarriers reveals a competition between nonlinear THz field‐induced intervalley scattering and optically driven interband excitations. The results on "tera‐nano" metasurfaces enable a novel platform to realize enhanced nonlinear nano/micro composites for field‐sensitive extreme THz nonlinear applications without the need for intense THz light sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral media exhibit optical activity, which manifests itself as differential retardation and attenuation of circularly polarized electromagnetic waves of opposite handedness. This effect can be described by different refractive indices for left‐ and right‐handed waves and yields a negative index in extreme cases. Here, active control of chirality, optical activity, and refractive index is demonstrated. These phenomena are observed in a terahertz metamaterial based on 3D‐chiral metallic resonators and achiral vanadium dioxide inclusions. The chiral structure exhibits pronounced optical activity and a negative refractive index at room temperature when vanadium dioxide is in its insulating phase. Upon heating, the insulator‐to‐metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide effectively renders the structure achiral, resulting in absence of optical activity and a positive refractive index. The origin of the structure's chiral response is traced to magnetic coupling between front and back of the structure, whereas the temperature‐controlled chiral‐to‐achiral transition is found to correspond to a transition from magnetic to electric dipole excitations. The use of a fourfold rotationally symmetric design avoids linear birefringence and dichroism, allowing such a structure to operate as tunable polarization rotator, adjustable linear polarization converter, and switchable circular polarizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of metasurface has inspired the innovation of various functional devices in the terahertz band, but the intrisinc dispersion restricts their application in broadband scenarios. Here, two terahertz achromatic linear‐phase‐gradient metasurface devices are demonstrated, which are a beam deflector and a beam splitter, respectively. The phase and dispersion of the metasurfaces are simultaneously engineered by changing the geometric parameters of the unit cells made of silicon gratings and pillars. The simulated and experimental results demonstrate the achromatic feasibility of the beam deflector from 0.6 to 1.2 THz and of the beam splitter from 0.6 to 1.1 THz. The transmittances and the splitting ratios of the achromatic beam splitter are also analyzed. The metasurface based achromatic beam deflector and splitter presented here not only enrich the terahertz functional devices, but the methods and structures may also promote the research of broadband terahertz metasurfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present experimental results of actively controlled anisotropic near-field coupling in a metamaterial composed of two concentric in-plane split ring resonators and a closed-ring resonator functioning at terahertz (THz) frequencies. Transparency windows are observed due to the coupling effect between two dipole-like modes for both polarizations of the THz field, but at different frequencies. By properly incorporating silicon islands into the metamaterial unit cells, the transparency windows can be optically controlled with a modulation depth reaching 68% and 62% for horizontal and vertical polarizations, respectively. The results are of value for designing active THz anisotropic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The vibrational spectra of alkali halide crystals were probed by broadband THz-TDS. • The vibrational modes of the crystals were analyzed based on DFT calculations. • The vibration frequencies of the crystals were described by harmonic oscillator model. Terahertz spectral features of alkali halide crystals were studied with the combination of broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and the solid-state-based density functional theory calculations. To understand the particular modes of the observed terahertz features of the alkali halide crystals, the resonant modes of KCl and CsCl were analyzed using face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic lattice models, respectively. The results show that the characteristic terahertz absorption peaks could be assigned to the lattice vibration of the ionic crystals. Furthermore, the terahertz responses of a series of alkali halides were recorded, and obvious absorption peaks were observed in each salt in the frequency region below 8.5 THz. What is more interestingly is that the frequencies of these observed peaks are red-shifted with the increases of the mass and radius of the ions. This correlation between the resonant frequency of the lattice vibration, the reduced atomic mass, and the equilibrium distance between the ions agrees well with the harmonic oscillator model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]