VO2-metallic hybrid metasurfaces for agile terahertz wave modulation by phase transition

Abstract

The combination of VO2 and metasurfaces has opened an attractive route to dynamically control terahertz (THz) waves based on the giant conductivity change. However, the high-precision control of microfabrication and single performance of conductivity change limit the multifunctional application of VO2-based metasurfaces. Here, we proposed a VO2-metallic hybrid metasurface by in situ depositing high-quality VO2 thin films onto a metasurface composed of asymmetric Fano resonance units. It exhibits agile frequency and amplitude modulation for THz transmission across tuning the dielectric constant and conductivity of VO2. The metallic metasurface is designed as a matrix to achieve high transmission at 0.61 and 0.78 THz due to the split-ring resonance. During the thermally triggered phase transition of VO2, we found that the resonance frequency and amplitude can be tuned dominantly by the change of dielectric constant and conductivity, respectively. In particular, the increased dielectric constant enables red shift of the frequency by around 0.48 THz and the conductivity increases lead to a giant THz amplitude modulation of 88%. These results provide a route for developing VO2-based THz smart devices combined with functional metasurfaces and hold great promise for applications in THz sensor and modulation.