Thermotunable Terahertz Negative-Index Metamaterials with Dielectric Spheres Embedded in Semiconductor Host

Abstract

A possibility to realize thermotunable isotropic negative-index metamaterials up to terahertz regime is theoretically investigated. The proposed composite metamaterials consist of dielectric spheres embedded randomly in a semiconductor host medium. As the variation in the intrinsic carrier density in InSb due to a variation in temperature thus changes the plasma frequency, we show theoretically the provided composite metamaterials whose index of refraction is thermally tunable and potentially less propagation loss. Furthermore, the effects of the radius of the dielectric sphere on the modulation frequency and bandwidth are discussed. Finally, we find that the design parameters for the composites can be scaled for application in the higher frequency regions.