Temperature-controlled terahertz chirality and imaging in a nested split-rings metasurface

Y Yu Tang (State Key Laboratory of Natural Product Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Materials and Energy) J Junjie Li (Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.) Y Yang Cheng Z Zhengqi Liu X Xiaoshan Liu (College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University 1 , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,) G Guolan Fu (College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University 1 , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,) H Hanyang Gong (Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices, College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,) P Pingping Pan (Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices, College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,) G Guiqiang Liu (College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University 1 , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,)

Abstract

Chiral metasurfaces exhibit vast application prospects in near-field imaging, polarization conversion, and chiral sensing. In this work, we theoretically propose a temperature-tunable terahertz (THz) chiral absorber based on a metasurface of Ag–VO2 nested split-rings. Perfect absorption of left-handed circularly polarized light (LCP) exceeding 99% and weak absorption of only about 6% of right-handed circularly polarized light (RCP) are achieved at 7.24 THz in frequency. The discrepancy in absorption responses of LCP and RCP results in a large circular dichroism (CD) of 0.94. The CD value in the THz region can be actively modulated between 0.02 and 0.94 by controlling the phase transition of VO2, which is closely related to the ambient temperature. Moreover, near-field imaging and encrypted presentation are realized by leveraging the metasurface and its mirror-image properties. Our work holds significant promise in widespread fields including THz intelligent absorption, imaging, and chiral detection.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 126, Issue 12
Published March 01, 2025
ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher American Institute of Physics

Journal Info

Applied Physics Letters

American Institute of Physics

ISSN: 0003-6951 Physical Sciences

Authors (9)

Y

Yu Tang

State Key Laboratory of Natural Product Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Materials and Energy

J

Junjie Li

Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

Y

Yang Cheng

Z

Zhengqi Liu

X

Xiaoshan Liu

College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University 1 , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,

G

Guolan Fu

College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University 1 , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,

H

Hanyang Gong

Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices, College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,

P

Pingping Pan

Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices, College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,

G

Guiqiang Liu

College of Physics and Communication Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University 1 , Nanchang 330022, Jiangxi,