Electrical control of terahertz nano antennas on VO2 thin film.

We demonstrate an active metamaterial device that allows to electrically control terahertz transmission over more than one order of magnitude. Our device consists of a lithographically defined gold nano antenna array fabricated on a thin film of vanadium dioxide (VO(2)), a material that possesses an insulator to metal transition. The nano antennas let terahertz (THz) radiation funnel through when the VO(2) film is in the insulating state. By applying a dc-bias voltage through our device, the VO(2) becomes metallic. This electrically shorts the antennas and therefore switches off the transmission in two distinct regimes: reversible and irreversible switching.

[1]  Wai Lam Chan,et al.  A spatial light modulator for terahertz beams , 2009 .

[2]  Abul K. Azad,et al.  Active Terahertz Metamaterial Devices , 2008 .

[3]  Xiang Zhang,et al.  Two‐dimensional electro‐optic imaging of THz beams , 1996 .

[4]  D. N. Basov,et al.  Reconfigurable Gradient Index using VO$_2$ Memory Metamaterials , 2011, 1103.5729.

[5]  Hoi Sing Kwok,et al.  Pulsed laser deposition of VO2 thin films , 1994 .

[6]  Willie J Padilla,et al.  A metamaterial solid-state terahertz phase modulator , 2009 .

[7]  A. Lavrinenko,et al.  Microscopic model of the THz field enhancement in a metal nanoslit , 2011 .

[8]  Kunio Okimura,et al.  Electric-Field-Induced Multistep Resistance Switching in Planar VO2/c-Al2O3 Structure , 2009 .

[9]  Willie J Padilla,et al.  Active terahertz metamaterial devices , 2006, Nature.

[10]  S Fourmaux,et al.  Band-selective measurements of electron dynamics in VO2 using femtosecond near-edge x-ray absorption. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[11]  J. S. Lee,et al.  Transport and microscopic investigations on the electric-pulse-induced phase transition of VO2 films , 2007 .

[12]  Luis Martín-Moreno,et al.  Light passing through subwavelength apertures , 2010 .

[13]  D J Hilton,et al.  Enhanced photosusceptibility near Tc for the light-induced insulator-to-metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[14]  Byung-Gyu Chae,et al.  Mott Transition in VO2 Revealed by Infrared Spectroscopy and Nano-Imaging , 2007, Science.

[15]  S. Ramanathan,et al.  Nanoscale imaging and control of resistance switching in VO2 at room temperature , 2010 .

[16]  Roberto Morandotti,et al.  Concurrent field enhancement and high transmission of THz radiation in nanoslit arrays , 2011 .

[17]  F. J. Morin,et al.  Oxides Which Show a Metal-to-Insulator Transition at the Neel Temperature , 1959 .

[18]  H. Bernien,et al.  Active terahertz nanoantennas based on VO2 phase transition. , 2010, Nano letters.

[19]  T. E. Haynes,et al.  Temperature-controlled surface plasmon resonance in VO (2) nanorods. , 2002, Optics letters.

[20]  S. Koo,et al.  Resonance behavior of single ultrathin slot antennas on finite dielectric substrates in terahertz regime , 2010 .

[21]  J. C. Kieffer,et al.  Evidence for a structurally-driven insulator-to-metal transition in VO 2 : A view from the ultrafast timescale , 2004, cond-mat/0403214.

[22]  Hanspeter Helm,et al.  Metal-insulator phase transition in a VO2 thin film observed with terahertz spectroscopy , 2006 .

[23]  Gokul Gopalakrishnan,et al.  On the triggering mechanism for the metal–insulator transition in thin film VO2 devices: electric field versus thermal effects , 2009, Journal of Materials Science.

[24]  Byung-Gyu Chae,et al.  Abrupt metal–insulator transition observed in VO2 thin films induced by a switching voltage pulse , 2005 .

[25]  S. Yun,et al.  Characteristics of vanadium dioxide films deposited by RF-magnetron sputter deposition technique using V-metal target , 2008 .

[26]  J. S. Lee,et al.  Microspectroscopic detection of local conducting areas generated by electric-pulse-induced phase transition in VO2 films , 2007 .

[27]  Deborah P. Partlow,et al.  Switchable vanadium oxide films by a sol‐gel process , 1991 .

[28]  G. Park,et al.  Terahertz field enhancement by a metallic nano slit operating beyond the skin-depth limit , 2009 .

[29]  Massimiliano Di Ventra,et al.  Phase-transition driven memristive system , 2009, 0901.0899.

[30]  Byung-Gyu Chae,et al.  Memory Metamaterials , 2009, Science.

[31]  Dai‐Sik Kim,et al.  Giant nonlinear response of terahertz nanoresonators on VO2 thin film. , 2010, Optics express.

[32]  Gyungock Kim,et al.  Mechanism and observation of Mott transition in VO2-based two- and three-terminal devices , 2004 .

[33]  Terahertz nanoresonators: Giant field enhancement and ultrabroadband performance , 2010 .

[34]  D. N. Basov,et al.  Correlated metallic state of vanadium dioxide , 2006 .

[35]  Tohru Suemoto,et al.  Photoinduced metallic state in VO2 proved by the terahertz pump-probe spectroscopy , 2008 .