Thermal and mechanical THz modulation of flexible all-dielectric metamaterial

Abstract

The implementation of Terahertz (THz) modulation is critical for applications in high-speed wireless communications, security screening and so on. Therefore, it is particularly significant to obtain THz wave modulation devices with stable and flexible performance, easy manipulation of the modulation method, and multi-functionality. Here, we propose a flexible all-dielectric metamaterial by embedding zirconia (ZrO2) microspheres into a vanadium dioxide/polydimethylsiloxane (VO2/PDMS) composite, which can achieve thermal and mechanical tuning of THz wave transmission. When the temperature of the ZrO2/VO2/PDMS metamaterial increases, VO2 changes from the insulating phase to the metallic phase, and the 1st (at 0.304 THz) and 2nd (at 0.414 THz) order magnetic resonances exhibit the tunability of 20 GHz and 15 GHz, respectively. When stretched, the 1st and 2nd order magnetic resonances show the tunability of 12 GHz and 10 GHz, respectively. In the meantime, there are accompanying changes in transmittance at the resonances. The ZrO2/VO2/PDMS all-dielectric metamaterial presented in this work provides an alternative strategy for developing actively tunable, flexible, and versatile THz devices. In addition, it has the merits of simple preparation and low cost, promising large-area and rapid preparation of meta-arrays.