Imaging-based terahertz pixelated metamaterials for molecular fingerprint sensing

作者：Chun Li, Xingcheng Xiang, Pan Wang, Yan Teng, Haonan Chen, Weili Li, Shengxin Yang, Benwen Chen, Caihong Zhang, Jingbo Wu, Kebin Fan, Biaobing Jin, Ling Jiang, Jian Chen, Peiheng Wu · 发表于：Optics Express · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1364/oe.531381 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Terahertz technology and applications、Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research、Superconducting and THz Device Technology

With the rapid development of terahertz-enabled devices, the study of miniaturized and integrated systems has attracted significant attention. We experimentally demonstrate an imaging-based pixelated metamaterial for detecting terahertz molecular fingerprints related to intermolecular vibrations and large-amplitude intramolecular modes, including chemical identification and compositional analysis. The compact THz sensor consists of a 4 × 4 pixelated filter-detector array with transmission resonances tuned to discrete frequencies. The absorption spectra of analytes are computationally reconstructed from different spectral responses of meta-pixels, and the resulting information is characterized via near-field imaging. Due to the spectrometer-less operation principle, such imaging-based approaches provide an alternative method for developing sensitive, versatile, and miniaturized THz biosensors, especially for practical field deployment applications.