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Abstract Field-controlled micromanipulation represents a pivotal technique for handling microparticles, yet conventional methods often risk physical damage to targets. Here, we discovered a completely new mechanism for true noncontact manipulation through photothermal effects, called thermal-optical tweezers. We employ a laser self-assembly photothermal waveguide (PTW) for dynamic microparticle manipulation. This waveguide demonstrates superior photothermal conversion and precision control, generating a nonisothermal temperature field. The interaction of thermal convection and thermophoresis within this field creates a microfluidic potential well, enabling noncontact and nondestructive particle manipulation. By varying the path of PTWs in lithography and manipulating laser loading modes, diverse manipulation strategies, such as Z-shaped migration, periodic oscillation, and directional transport, are achievable. Our innovative noninvasive micromanipulation technology minimizes not only physical damage to target objects but also enables precise and diverse manipulation of micro entities, opening up new avenues for the photothermal control of cells and biomolecules.

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) have exhibited extraordinary properties in photonics for enhanced light-matter interactions that enable appealing applications in nonlinear optics, biosensors, and ultrafast optical switches. The most common strategy to apply BICs in a metasurface is by breaking symmetry of resonators in the uniform array that leaks the otherwise uncoupled mode to free space and exhibits an inverse quadratic relationship between quality factor (Q) and asymmetry. Here, we propose a scheme to further reduce scattering losses and improve the robustness of symmetry-protected BICs by decreasing the radiation density with a hybrid BIC lattice. We observe a significant increase of radiative Q in the hybrid lattice compared to the uniform lattice with a factor larger than 14.6. In the hybrid BIC lattice, modes are transferred to Г point inherited from high symmetric X, Y, and M points in the Brillouin zone that reveal as multiple Fano resonances in the far field and would find applications in hyperspectral sensing. This work initiates a novel and generalized path toward reducing scattering losses and improving the robustness of BICs in terms of lattice engineering that would release the rigid requirements of fabrication accuracy and benefit applications of photonics and optoelectronic devices.

Plasmonic vortices confining orbital angular momentums to surface have aroused wide research interest in the last decade. Recent advances of near-field microscopes have enabled the study on the spatiotemporal dynamics of plasmonic vortices, providing a better understanding of optical orbital angular momentums in the evanescent wave regime. However, these works only focused on the objective characterization of plasmonic vortex and have not achieved subjectively tailoring of its spatiotemporal dynamics for specific applications. Herein, it is demonstrated that the plasmonic vortices with the same topological charge can be endowed with distinct spatiotemporal dynamics by simply changing the coupler design. Based on a near-field scanning terahertz microscopy, the surface plasmon fields are directly obtained with ultrahigh spatiotemporal resolution, experimentally exhibiting the generation and evolution divergences during the whole lifetime of plasmonic vortices. The proposed strategy is straightforward and universal, which can be readily applied into visible or infrared frequencies, facilitating the development of plasmonic vortex related researches and applications.

Active terahertz beam steering based on mechanical deformation of the LCE metasurface tuned infrared pump

Polarization control is of paramount importance for various applications. Here, the authors enable extreme control over light polarization spanning the entire Poincaré sphere by combining coherent control of wave phenomena and the physics of bound states in the continuum.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared in a May 2023 announcement that the COVID-19 illness is no longer categorized as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC); nevertheless, it is still considered an actual threat to world health, social welfare and economic stability. Consequently, the development of a convenient, reliable and affordable approach for detecting and identifying SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging new variants is crucial. The fingerprint and signal amplification characteristics of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) could serve as an assay scheme for SARS-CoV-2. Here, we report a machine learning-based label-free SERS technique for the rapid and accurate detection and identification of SARS-CoV-2. The SERS spectra collected from samples of four types of coronaviruses on gold nanoparticles film, fabricated using a Langmuir–Blodgett self-assembly, can provide more spectroscopic signatures of the viruses and exhibit low limits of detection (50/mL or even 50/mL). Furthermore, the key Raman bands of the SERS spectra were systematically captured by principal component analysis (PCA), which effectively distinguished SARS-CoV-2 and its variant from other coronaviruses. These results demonstrate that the combined use of SERS technology and PCA analysis has great potential for the rapid analysis and discrimination of multiple viruses and even newly emerging viruses without the need for a virus-specific probe.

Plasmonics takes advantage of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which have the characteristics of strong subwavelength field confinement and enhancement. Plasmonic devices that confine light in regions with dimensions that are smaller than the wavelength have important application prospects in on-chip integrated circuits. Nonetheless, at terahertz frequencies, the weak confinement of SPPs and immature near-field technology hinder the development of related devices. Here, a highly confined SPP mode (spoof SPP) is implemented by structuring metal surfaces. Gradient index lenses with variable indices are constructed by fine-tuning the size of the pillars, and the characteristics of several different lenses are examined and explored by scanning near-field terahertz microscopy. Thus, terahertz waves are regulated and more possibilities are provided for further miniaturization and compactness of THz devices.

Topological photonic devices provide a powerful platform to control the flow of light because their topologically protected edge states can be immune to backscattering and be robust to impurities, disorders, and defects. As one of the topological photonic systems, valley photonic crystals have attracted great attention because they can achieve a large bandgap and be easily combined with modern micro-nano fabrication technology. Terahertz photonic devices are of enormous interest in next-generation communications. Here, we design a valley photonic crystal consisting of a triangular lattice with three metal rod scatterers. By rotating the three metal rods in opposite directions to break the inversion symmetry, we achieve a bandgap width of up to 70% and observe the transport of the edge states in the terahertz region. By replacing part of the structure with phase change material VO2, on/off switching of the terahertz photonic topological edge states is realized, and the attenuation can be also modeled by adjusting the size of the VO2 region. The proposed regime has potential applications in sensing and 6G communications.

Manipulating photon dynamics is becoming increasingly important especially for quantum optics applications. In this work, the authors provide a mechanism that functions as a ‘photon brake’ which relies on the concept of temporal loss boundary to manipulate the dynamics of cavity photons.

Abstract Light is a complex vectorial field characterized by its amplitude, phase, and polarization properties, which can be further represented by four basic parameters, that is, amplitudes and phases of two orthogonally polarized components. Controlling these parameters simultaneously and independently at will using metasurfaces are essential in arbitrarily manipulating the light propagation. However, most of the studies so far commonly require a great number of different meta‐atoms or rely on diffraction under oblique incidence, which lack convenience and flexibility in design and implementation. Here, a new metasurface paradigm is proposed that can completely manipulate the amplitudes and phases of two spin components based on the interference effect, where only two different meta‐atoms are applied. For proof‐of‐concept demonstration, two five‐channel meta‐holograms for imaging and information encryption are designed and experimentally characterized. The interference method provides a simple route toward compact complex and multifunctional meta‐devices.

Manipulating spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) effectively has promising applications in developing ultracompact plasmonic circuits. Research on versatile components in planar spoof SPP waveguides has attracted widespread attention over the decades. In particular, cascaded chip-scale devices play an important role in enhancive buffering, highly-sensitive sensing and nonlinear interaction. Herein, we propose a novel strategy to manipulate the switching and slow wave features of spoof SPPs on the basis of plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) spectral responses. A combined module consisting of split square-ring resonators and electric-LC resonators is loaded with a spoof SPP waveguide along the propagating trajectory, where the destructive interference between the two resonators contributes to the PIT behavior and the group delay of the spoof SPPs. A modulation contrast of up to 16.2 dB is achieved for the spoof SPP transmission at the PIT peak frequency. The measurements are consistent with both full-wave simulations and theoretical calculations. Cascaded capabilities performed by installing multiple PIT modules at an interval of an equivalent wavelength are accomplished in the planar spoof SPP waveguide. The proposed strategy opens up fascinating prospects on highly integrated plasmonic circuits and networks.

Polarization control of electromagnetic waves has attracted broad interest for years. Despite meaningful efforts in the past decade, how to realize broadband transmissive polarization conversion for terahertz waves is a problem remaining unresolved. Herein, an innovative strategy of designing an all‐silicon grating is proposed, and it is experimentally demonstrated that the designed structure is capable of realizing ultra‐broadband cross‐linear and linear‐to‐circular polarization conversions in the terahertz regime. Moreover, active control of arbitrary polarization states can be accomplished by mechanically tilting the grating structure. In brief, this work promises a new approach to realizing ultra‐broadband conversion in arbitrary polarization state at terahertz frequencies, and is of great significance for terahertz wireless communication technology, polarization imaging, and emergent biochemistry research requiring dichroism light.

Abstract Nodal lines are degeneracies formed by crossing bands in three-dimensional momentum space. Interestingly, these degenerate lines can chain together via touching points and manifest as nodal chains. These nodal chains are usually embedded in two orthogonal planes and protected by the corresponding mirror symmetries. Here, we propose and demonstrate an in-plane nodal chain in photonics, where all chained nodal lines coexist in a single mirror plane instead of two orthogonal ones. The chain point is stabilized by the intrinsic symmetry that is specific to electromagnetic waves at the Г point of zero frequency. By adding another mirror plane, we find a nodal ring that is constructed by two higher bands and links with the in-plane nodal chain. The nodal link in momentum space exhibits non-Abelian characteristics on a C 2 T - invariant plane, where admissible transitions of the nodal link structure are determined by generalized quaternion charges. Through near-field scanning measurements of bi-anisotropic metamaterials, we experimentally mapped out the in-plane nodal chain and nodal link in such systems.

Conventional metasurfaces often manipulate light propagation in a passive way, which cannot satisfy the dynamic operation requirements of many practical applications. Integrating functional materials or components into the structure design is one effective method, which, however, often introduces additional loss to the resonances, thus greatly affecting the efficiency of modulation. Here, we numerically propose a reflection-type dielectric metasurface design that could allow switchable and efficient wavefront control in the terahertz regime. The metasurfaces are composed of dielectric structures suspended on a ground metallic film, which can exhibit different phase responses at different gap distances between them owing to the variation of the Fabre-Pérot (FP) resonance. Two metasurfaces are designed and numerically demonstrated, which can achieve mechanically switchable beam steering and wave focusing responses, respectively, by only changing the gap distance by a small range of 1/3 working wavelength. The maximum efficiency can reach around 89%. The proposed method provides a new avenue towards efficient and active terahertz wavefront control.

Recently reported metamaterial analogues of plasmon-induced transparency are very promising in designing novel optical components, such as slow-light devices and optical switches. However, most of the previous works mainly focus on manipulating the PIT effects using planar structures in the free space under normal incidence, where the resonances are mostly induced by the incident electric fields. Here, we present a PIT analogue in a waveguide system in the terahertz regime by inserting coupled split-ring resonator pairs into a tapered parallel plate waveguide. Different from the free-space cases, the incident magnetic fields can also play an important role here. By carefully arranging the relative orientations of the coupled split-ring resonators in each pair, giant modulation of the PIT effect is observed. This straightforward approach may enable novel devices for integrated terahertz devices.

Terahertz radiation: thin film enhancement A new method for generating terahertz waves exploits the low-permittivity properties of an ultrathin film. Terahertz radiation, falling between the infrared and microwave range, has emerging applications in imaging, communications and materials inspection, and is usually generated through the rectification of optical signals in nonlinear crystals. Yuanmu Yang at Tsinghua University in Beijing and co-workers tried an alternative approach, directing a near-infrared laser onto commercially available films of indium tin oxide just 19 nanometres thick. They observed a large enhancement in the terahertz generation when they tuned the laser to hit the film’s ‘epsilon-near-zero’ state—a point where the permittivity of the thin film becomes vanishingly small. The method is relatively inefficient, but the researchers suggest that it could be enhanced by using other thin films in conjunction with metamaterials.

The authors report that near-infrared light induces an irreversible accumulated Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) behavior of a molecule/metal–semiconductor hybrid system. They investigate the underlying mechanism and show that it is attributed to crystallinity, charge transfer and reorientation.

Seeking the unprecedented ability of metasurfaces to manipulate terahertz waves in a desired manner has attracted increasing interest. We design and investigate a kind of multi-channel, polarization-dependent transmission-type dielectric metasurface-based terahertz beam splitter. It is numerically demonstrated that such metasurfaces can manipulate terahertz beam, and split it into four channels with alterable angles and orthogonal polarizations, under the linearly polarized incidence with both the x- and y-polarization components. The suggested regime may alleviate the shortage of advanced multifunctional devices and provide extra freedom for terahertz functional device design.

The introduction of single-pixel imaging and compressed sensing (CS) techniques into terahertz (THz) imaging has sped up image acquisition and avoided raster scanning. At present, most single-pixel terahertz imaging developments are based on simple metal samples, researchers rarely study the reconstruction of complex structural samples with large attenuation in the terahertz domain, such as metasurface holographic images. Here, we present an implementation of the single-pixel compressed sensing approach into THz metasurface holography reconstruction. By laser projecting a set of binary patterns on a 500-μm thick silicon wafer using a digital micromirror device (DMD), THz wavefront of the holographic metasurface is spatially encoded. Single-element detector is used to measure electric field amplitude of the transmitted THz radiation for each pattern, and then the hologram is reconstructed by Total variation Augmented Lagrangian and Alternating Direction Algorithm (TVAL3). Besides, the reconstruction effects are also analyzed by reducing measurement number, it can maintain more than 95% of the image information under 20% compression. The demonstrated combination of terahertz holography and single-pixel compressed sensing imaging provides new possibilities for metasurface imaging, verifies the stability of terahertz single-pixel imaging, and the scheme may lead to advances in fast terahertz imaging.

In recent years, as a promising new method, integrating nanostructures to improve the power of photoconductive antennas has received widespread attention. However, there are few reports on the application of artificial electromagnetic structures to regulate the spectral features of photoconductive antennas. Herein, it is demonstrated that by integrating split‐ring resonator (SRR)‐like metallic structures onto the coplanar lines of the photoconductive antenna transmitter, one can significantly manipulate the spectral feature of the generated terahertz (THz) radiation. The guided THz wave along the coplanar lines is scattered by the SRRs to the far field and interferes with the THz pulse radiated from the photoconductive antenna gap, leading to enhancement of the photoconductive antenna's energy and modulation in the spectrum. Further studies have shown that the strength, frequency, and band‐pass/band‐stop characteristics of the modulation can be altered by changing the geometry and placement of the SRRs. Water vapor absorption is also discussed to exemplify the benefit of this novel meta‐antenna over the ordinary photoconductive antenna in sensing scenario. The photoconductive antenna proposed here takes the lead in using artificial structures to manipulate the spectral domain behavior of photoconductive antennas, which is of great significance for THz spectroscopy, imaging, and sensing.

In recent years, metasurface-based focusing elements have gradually become an indispensable type of terahertz lenses. However, the meta-lens often suffers from chromatic aberration due to the intrinsic dispersion of each element, especially in the broadband application scenarios. In this paper, we design and demonstrate a silicon-based achromatic meta-lens working from 0.6 to 1.0 THz, which is polarization insensitive because of the adopted symmetrical structures. The simulated focal length and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the foci at different frequencies prove the achromatic behavior of our meta-lens compared with the chromatic counterpart. We also show that the focus shift incongruence of our design originates from the transmission amplitude distribution of the meta-lens. This article not only provides an achromatic planar lens working at terahertz domain but also reveals the importance of the amplitude distribution in the achromatic metasurface design.

Summary: Logic gates are important components in integrated photonic circuitry. Here, a series of logic gates to achieve fundamental logic operations based on linear interference in spoof surface plasmon polariton waveguides are demonstrated at terahertz frequencies. A metasurface-based plasmonic source is adopted to couple free-space terahertz radiation into surface waves, followed by a funnel-shaped metasurface to efficiently couple the surface waves to the waveguides built on a domino structure. A single Mach-Zehnder waveguide interferometer can work as logic gates for four logic functions: AND, NOT, OR, and XOR. By cascading two such interferometers, NAND and NOR operations can also be achieved. Experimental investigations are supported by numerical simulations, and good agreement is obtained. The logic gates have compact sizes and high intensity contrasts for the output “1” and “0” states. More complicated functions can be envisioned and will be of great value for future terahertz integrated computing.

Abstract Spoof surface plasmons (SSPs) play crucial roles in terahertz (THz) near‐field photonics. However, both high‐efficiency excitation and wavefront engineering of SSPs remain great challenges, which hinder their wide applications in practice. Here, a scheme is proposed to simultaneously achieve these two goals efficiently using a single ultracompact device. First, it is shown that a gradient meta‐coupler constructed by high‐efficiency Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) meta‐atoms can convert circularly polarized (CP) THz beams into SSPs with absolute efficiency up to 60%. Encoding a parabolic phase profile into the meta‐coupler based on the PB mechanism, it is demonstrated that the device can covert CP beams into SSPs with focusing or defocusing wavefronts, dictated by the chirality of the incident wave. Finally, two distinct chirality‐dependent phase distributions are encoded into the meta‐coupler design by combining the PB and resonance phase mechanisms, and it is demonstrated that the resulting meta‐device can achieve SSP excitations with chirality‐delinked bifunctional wavefront engineering. THz near‐field experiments are performed to characterize all three devices, in excellent agreement with full‐wave simulations. The results pave the road to realize ultracompact devices integrating different functionalities on near‐field manipulations, which can find many applications (e.g., optical sensing, imaging, on‐chip photonics, etc.) in different frequency domains.

Terahertz waves are finding important applications in diverse fields, and meanwhile the manipulation of terahertz waves calls for the development of various functional devices. Here, we have designed and fabricated a metagrating-based polarization beam splitter for terahertz waves using the simplified modal method. By only considering two propagation modes and treating the grating as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the method can greatly simplify the reverse grating design process. The parameters of the grating are first obtained under the guidance of the simplified modal method and then improved upon by the finite element method. The fabricated device is finally experimentally demonstrated with a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system. The diffraction efficiencies of the polarization beam splitter at 0.9 THz are measured to be 69 and 63% for TE and TM waves relative to that of a silicon plate, respectively. The corresponding extinction ratios are 12 and 17 dB for TE and TM waves, respectively. The experiment results agree well with the simulations.

Mie-resonant metasurfaces composed of subwavelength dielectric resonators enable an efficient route for electromagnetic wave manipulation. Among these manipulations, a localized mode with a high-quality factor coexisting with a continuous spectrum of radiating waves termed bound state in the continuum (BIC) can arouse many exotic applications in photonics. Here, we demonstrate the terahertz BIC in a dielectric membrane metasurface and analyze its resonant nature based on Mie-resonant multipoles and vector spherical harmonics. The intrinsic splitting of the resonances under oblique incidence is also explored, in which the conversion of multipole radiation patterns versus the oblique angle will drive the resonances from BIC to leaky modes or vice versa. Both Γ and off-Γ point BICs could be identified as the superposition cancellation of vector spherical harmonics for both p-wave and s-wave. Our research not only provides a novel perspective for exploring the essence of BIC metasurfaces in the terahertz regime, but also points new opportunities for achieving terahertz BIC metasurfaces with ultra-high quality factors.

Terahertz photoconductive antenna (PCA) is an important device for generating ultrabroadband terahertz radiations, being applicable in various scenarios. However, the metallic electrodes in PCAs, a pair of coplanar strip lines (CSL), always produce horizontal electrode modes in a broad THz band, thus resulting in low directivity in the vertical direction. Here, we introduce spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) structures to suppress horizontal electrode modes in a broad band. The suppression principles are accounted to both the forbidden band of the fundamental SSPP mode and the orthogonality between source and higher-order SSPP modes. In the SSPP-modified PCA, we achieve around 2 dBi higher directivity in the vertical direction compared to a typical CSL PCA. Unlike the narrow bands inheriting from conventional metamaterial resonators, the relative operational band of the SSPP-modified PCA is as broad as 48%. This planar SSPP structure is compatible with the well-developed micro fabrication technologies. Thus, our scheme can be combined with the semiconductor material engineering and plasmonic nanoscale structures for further increasing THz output power.

ABSTRACT: It is shown that active-tunable terahertz absorbers can be realized in a sandwich-structured system comprising an ultrathin dielectric film (polyimide) on a temperature-sensitive substrate (InSb) with a metal film on the back by utilizing the intrinsic carrier density (N) variation in InSb. When increasing the temperature from 250 to 320 K, N in InSb varied from ~5.50×1015 to ~2.98×1016 cm-3. Fixing the thickness of dielectric film with the value of 1.37 μm, the absorption peak shifted from 1.41 to 3.29 THz while keeping absorption higher than 99%. This active tunability can respond to even a slight temperature perturbation, and shows polarization insensitivity as well as high tolerance of incidence-angle (absorption peak can still exceed 90% even the incidence angle reaches 60°). Besides, the refractive index of polyimide (PI) has thermal stability at the terahertz range and the merit of good workability. These characteristics guarantee the stability of active-tunable performance. The peculiarities and innovations of this proposal promise a wide range of high efficiency terahertz devices, such as thermal sensors, spatial light modulators (SLMs) and so on. Keywords: Terahertz wave, Absorber, Thin film, InSb

Two-dimensional black phosphorus (BP) recently emerged as an outstanding material for optoelectronics and nanophotonics applications. In contrast to graphene, BP has a sufficiently large electronic bandgap and its high carrier mobility allows for efficient free-carrier absorption in the infrared and terahertz regimes. Here, we present a reflective structure to enhance the response of nanostructured monolayer BP at terahertz frequencies and investigate localized surface plasmon resonances in BP nanostrip arrays. Anisotropic absorption is observed in the proposed BP metamaterials due to the puckered crystal structure of the monolayer BP, and further investigations show that the plasmonic resonances are strongly depending on the geometric parameters of the nanostrips and the coupling between the adjacent nanostrips. We expect that the monolayer BP is an outstanding candidate of highly anisotropic plasmonic material for ultrascaled optoelectronic integration.

We present an all-dielectric meta-lens designed to collimate terahertz waves emitted from a terahertz antenna. The meta-lens is not only thinner than a conventional bulk silicon lens, but also promises to eliminate the use of parabolic mirrors in a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system. A systematic numerical study reveals that the meta-lens exhibits excellent performance in both the emitter and detector modules, converting between the spherical wave of the antennas and the collimated beam. The frequency and alignment dependences of the meta-lens are also investigated to comprehensively map its response characteristics. The all-dielectric meta-lens presented here may pave a way in developing high-performance integrated photoconductive terahertz antenna components.

Abstract Excitation and manipulation of surface plasmons (SPs) are essential in developing cutting-edge plasmonic devices for medical diagnostics, biochemical spectroscopy and communications. The most common approach involves designing an array of periodic slits or grating apertures that enables coupling of the incident light to the SP modes. In recent years, plasmonic resonances, including extraordinary optical transmission through periodic arrays, quasicrystals and random aperture arrays, have been investigated in the free space. However, most of the studies have been limited to the far field detection of the transmission resonance. Here, we perform near-field measurements of the SPs on quasicrystal metasurfaces. We discover that the reciprocal vector determines the propagation modes of the SPs in the quasicrystal lattice which can be well explained by the quasi-momentum conservation rule. Our findings demonstrate vast potential in developing plasmonic metasurfaces with unique device functionalities that are controlled by the propagation modes of the SPs in quasicrystals.

In this paper, we present a novel universal coupled theory for metamaterial bound states in the continuum (BIC) or quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BIC) which provides ultra-high Q resonance for metamaterial devices. Our theory analytically calculates the coupling of two bright modes with phase information. Our method has much more accuracy for ultra-strong coupling comparing with the previous theories (the coupling of one bright mode and one dark mode and the two bright-mode coupling). Therefore, our theory is much more suitable for BIC or quasi-BIC and we can accurately predict the transmission spectrum of metamaterial BIC or quasi-BIC for the first time.

Plasmon-induced transparency in terahertz metamaterials markedly modifies the dispersive properties of an otherwise opaque medium and reveals unprecedented prospects on novel functional components. However, plasmon-induced transparency in metamaterials so far exists in a narrow frequency band or without actively tunable abilities. Here, we demonstrate optical control of a broadband plasmon-induced transparency in a hybrid metamaterial made from integrated silicon-metal unit cells. Attributed to the modification in damping rate of the dark mode resonators under optical excitation, a giant dynamic amplitude modulation of the broadband transparency window is observed. The scheme suggested here is promising in developing broadband active slow-light devices and realizing on-to-off switching responses of the terahertz radiation at room temperature.

The periodic-metamaterial-based perfect absorber has been studied broadly. Conversely, if the unit cell in the metamaterial-based absorber is arranged aperiodically (aperiodic-metamaterial-based absorber), how does it perform? Inspired by this, here we present a systematic study of the aperiodic-metamaterial-based absorber. By investigating the response of metamaterial absorbers based on periodic, Fibonacci, Thue-Morse, and quasicrystal lattices, we found that aperiodic-metamaterial-based absorbers could display similar absorption behaviors as the periodic one in one hand. However, their absorption behaviors show different tendency depending on the thicknesses of the spacer. Further studies on the angle and polarization dependence of the absorption behavior are also presented.

As the key concept in fabricating integrated device, surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) have been widely employed to artificially manipulate the electromagnetic waves in metallic surfaces. However, due to the highly structure-dependent resonance of SPPs, it is challengeable to develop a fixed device which can function at wide band. Here, we propose a novel broadband and robust SPPs directional coupler based on the tri-layered curved waveguides working at terahertz (THz) frequencies, where the coupling of SPPs between the adjacent waveguides can be modeled with coupled mode theory. By introducing the stimulated raman adiabatic passage quantum control technique, we achieve the complete transfer of SPPs from the input to the output waveguides in the range of 0.9–1.3 THz, and even considering the propagation loss, the transfer rate is still above 70%. Furthermore, the performance of our device is eminently robust because of its insensitivity to the geometry of structure and the wavelength of SPPs. As a result, our device can tolerate defect induced by fabrication processing and manipulate THz waves at broadband. This finding provides a new theoretical guideline in promoting THz on-demand applications, which is of significance in developing integrated THz devices.

Gold nanoparticles with multiple branches have attracted intensive studies for their application in sensing of low trace molecules. A large number of the merits found on the gold nanoparticles for the above applications are attributed to the strong localized surface plasmon resonance excited by the incident radiation. However, a facile and flexible way of synthesizing the multi-branch gold nanoparticles with tunable localized surface plasmon resonance frequency is still a challenge for the plasmonic research field. Herein, we report an efficient one-pot synthesis of multi-branch gold nanoparticles method that resembles a seed-medicated approach while using no further chemicals except chloroauric acid, ascorbic acid and 4-(2-Hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazinyl]-ethanesulfonic acid. By controlling the amounts of ascorbic acid volumes in the reaction mixture, the morphology and the localized surface plasmon resonance frequency of the synthesized multi-branch gold nanoparticles can be manipulated conveniently. Moreover, using the 4-Mercaptobenzoic acid as the Raman reporter, the multi-branch gold nanoparticles show superior surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy characteristics that can be potentially used in chemical and biological sensing.

We present a review of experimental studies of resonant excitation of terahertz surface plasmons in two-dimensional arrays of subwavelength metal holes. Resonant transmission efficiency higher than unity was recently achieved when normalized to the area occupied by the holes. The effects of hole shape, hole dimensions, dielectric function of metals, polarization dependence, and array film thickness on resonant terahertz transmission in metal arrays were investigated by the state-of-the-art terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. In particular, extraordinary terahertz transmission was demonstrated in arrays of subwavelength holes made even from Pb, a generally poor metal, and having thickness of only one-third of skin depth. Terahertz surface plasmons have potential applications in terahertz imaging, biosensing, interconnects, and development of integrated plasmonic components for terahertz generation and detection.

We present the nonlinear response of superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) thin film and NbN metamaterial with different thicknesses under intense terahertz pulses. For NbN thin film, nonlinearity emerges and superconductivity is suppressed with increasing incident terahertz electric field, and the suppression extent weakens as the film thickness increases from 15 to 50 nm. As the variation in intense terahertz fields alters the intrinsic conductivity in NbN, a consequent remarkable amplitude modulation in NbN metamaterial is observed due to the strong nonlinearity. Absorbed photo density in either NbN film or NbN metamaterial is estimated and used to understand the mechanism of nonlinear response. With a thicker NbN film element of 200 nm, the resonance of the metamaterial shows similar nonlinear modulation accompanied by a lower loss and a higher quality factor compared with a thinner NbN film element of 50 nm, which demonstrates the innovative implementation of strongly enhanced nonlinearity with thick superconducting film elements and the potential for novel applications using nonlinear metamaterial.

We present a double-ring-chain metamaterial that enables efficient polarization conversion of terahertz waves. The experimental results and numerical simulations reveal that the linear-to-linear polarization rotation and linear-to-elliptic polarization transformation are simply accomplished by altering the dimensional parameters of the metamaterial unit cells. The polarization state conversion is found to be critically related to the resonant properties of the long bars and the rings in the unit geometries and is well described by the Jones matrix. This approach promises both passive and active polarization conversion of terahertz radiation using planar metamaterials.

Amidoxime (AO)-based adsorbents are currently regarded as the most promising materials for extracting uranium (U) from seawater, but have limited adsorption capacities. To overcome this challenge, there is an urgent need to develop novel extraction groups with multifunctional capabilities such as adsorption and reduction. In this study, we proposed for the first time to introduce hydrazide groups with reduction and chelation functionalities into adsorbent materials. These groups were integrated into poly(ethylene)-poly(amidoxime) membranes creating a two-in-one bifunctional structure with adsorption and reduction to enhance uranium extraction from seawater. Our results showed that the adsorption capacity of the hydrazide-functionalized materials in uranyl solution increased by 22%, indicating that it has excellent adsorption properties. Following a 30-day adsorption experiment conducted in natural seawater, the uranium adsorption capacity reached a notable 6.76 mg-U/g-ads. Additionally, XPS analysis demonstrated that uranyl ions were adsorbed in the hydrazide-functionalized materials and were reduced to their low-valence state during adsorption, from U(VI) to U(IV). The adsorbents, with dual reduction/chelation effects, provide new insights and possibilities for designing novel uranium adsorbents for future uranium extraction from seawater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]