Reconfigurable MEMS metamaterial based active THz photonics

Abstract

Metamaterials are well-known for their tunable and unnatural properties that are not usually accessible in natural materials. Recently, there is a large growing interest in the actively tunable metamaterials, where their structural/optical can be actively tuned using an external means, such as optical pulse, thermal and electrical controls. Among them the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based metamaterials have given useful features of multiple controls in engineering their structural geometry in all the three-spatial directions of the sample at the THz frequencies. This allows to probe and engineer unique and intriguing near-field coupling phenomena in metamaterials, thereby obtaining the electro-optical properties on demand.