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Terahertz metamaterial biosensor is a label-free affinity sensor that enhances the strength of the local electromagnetic field. It is extremely sensitive to changes in the dielectric constant of the surrounding environment, thereby providing a new method of detecting micro or trace biological samples. In this work, a highly sensitive terahertz refractive index metamaterial absorber sensor for detecting the biological sample is proposed. The sensor consists of two concentric open metal rings and is a multimode resonator. With two independent adjustable operating bands in a frequency range of 0.7–2.5 THz, i.e. 1.079 THz and 2.271 THz, the sensor can observe different electromagnetic effects of the sample in the terahertz band. We evaluate the performance of terahertz sensors with indicators such as absorption characteristics and sensitivity. The sensor possesses the absorption higher than 99.9% in free space. In addition, the large Q value indicates that the sensor provides high frequency selectivity characteristics. Especially, the sensitivity of the sensor achieves 693.7 GHz/RIU, with a minimum refractive index change of 0.004 for the detection of biological samples, which provides good sensing performance. In the proposed sensor, a flexible material with low dielectric constant is used, which has the advantages of biocompatibility and portability and shows high stability at the 0°–60° oblique incidence angle and within 4% fabrication error. Moreover, the detection effectiveness of the sensor is verified by simulation experiments with ethanol-water mixtures. The sensor units designed in this paper have small interactions among them, work stably and are easily fabricated The sensor can significantly enhance the interaction between light and matter and has broad application prospects in terahertz high-sensitivity biosensing detection.
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Keywords:
- terahertz /
- metamaterials /
- absorbers /
- biosensors
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
Pang H Z, Wang X, Wang J L, Wang Z L, Liu S Y L T, Tian H Q 2021 Acta Phys. Sin. 70 321
Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Yang J P, Wang M C, Deng H, Kang Y, Li Z R, Liu Q C, Xiong L, Wu Z X, Qu W W, Shang L P 2021 Acta Optica. Sin. 41 218
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Google Scholar
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图 1 (a)周期阵列结构; (b)单元结构上视图; (c)单元结构侧视图
Figure 1. (a) Periodic array structure; (b) top view of unit structure; (c) side view of unit structure
图 2 无分析物时传感器吸收特性仿真曲线
Figure 2. Simulation curve of sensor absorption characteristics in the absence of analyte.
图 3 传感器在谐振频率处的电场分布 (a) f1处电场分布; (b) f2处电场分布
Figure 3. The electric field distribution of the sensor at the resonance frequency. (a) Electric field distribution at f1; (b) electric field distribution at f2.
图 4 传感器在谐振频率处的电流分布 (a) f1处表面电流分布; (b) f2处表面电流分布; (c) f1处底板电流分布; (d) f2处底板电流分布
Figure 4. The current distribution of the sensor at the resonance frequency: (a) Surface current distribution at f1; (b) surface current distribution at f2; (c) floor current distribution at f1; (d) floor current distribution at f2.
图 5 子结构的吸收特性曲线
Figure 5. Absorption characteristic curve of substructure.
图 6 内环移动距离对吸收谱的影响 (a)内环上下移动距离; (b)内环左右移动距离
Figure 6. Effect of inner ring shift distance on absorption spectrum: (a) Vertical travel distance of the inner ring; (b) horizontal travel distance of the inner ring.
图 7 旋转角度对吸收谱的影响 (a)内环旋转角度; (b)外环旋转角度
Figure 7. Effect of rotating angle on the absorption spectrum: (a) Rotating angle of the inner ring; (b) rotating angle of the outer ring.
图 8 内环旋转60°、单独外环的吸收谱及电场分布
Figure 8. Absorption spectrum and electric field distribution of the inner ring rotated by 60° and the outer ring alone.
图 9 传感器几何参数变化吸收特性曲线. (a)外环半径r1; (b)外环开口间隙g1; (c)外环线宽w1; (d)内环半径r2; (e)内环开口间隙g2; (f)内环线宽w2
Figure 9. Absorption characteristics curve with changes in sensor geometric parameters: (a) Outer ring radius r1; (b) outer ring opening gap g1; (c) outer ring line width w1; (d) inner ring radius r2; (e) inner ring opening gap g2; (f) inner ring line width w2.
图 10 (a), (b), (c)分别为不同周期P、不同衬底厚度、不同衬底材料的吸收特性曲线; (d)透射型传感器结构的传输特性曲线
Figure 10. (a), (b), (c) are the absorption characteristic curves of different periods P, different substrate thicknesses, and different substrate materials; (d) transmission characteristic curves of the transmissive sensor structure.
图 11 (a)待测分析物随折射率变化的吸收特性曲线和(b)频移及线性拟合
Figure 11. (a) Absorption characteristic curve and (b) frequency shift and linear fitting of the analyte to be measured with the change of refractive index.
图 12 待测分析物厚度的影响 (a)不同厚度下的吸收谱; (b)频率偏移随分析物厚度的变化
Figure 12. The influence of the thickness of the analyte to be measured: (a) Absorption characteristic curves under different thicknesses; (b) frequency deviation changes with analyte thickness.
图 13 不同中间介质层材料对传感器谐振频率f1, f2处偏移量的影响及其线性拟合
Figure 13. The influence of different intermediate dielectric layer materials on the offset of the sensor resonance frequency f1 and f2 and its linear fitting.
图 14 (a)TE和TM偏振电磁波下传感器的吸收谱; (b)不同入射角度的吸收特性曲线; (c)不同方位角度的吸收特性曲线
Figure 14. (a) Absorption spectra of the sensor under TE and TM polarized electromagnetic waves; (b) absorption characteristic curves at different incident angles; (c) absorption characteristic curves at different azimuth angles.
图 15 误差对传感器性能的影响
Figure 15. The effect of error on sensor performance.
图 16 制造误差对传感器灵敏度的影响
Figure 16. The influence of manufacturing error on sensor sensitivity.
图 17 乙醇-水混合物室温下吸收特性曲线 (a)低频; (b)高频
Figure 17. Absorption characteristics curve of ethanol-water mixture at room temperature: (a) Low frequency; (b) high frequency.
表 1 单元结构的几何参数
Table 1. Geometric parameters of the unit structure.
参数 P h r1 w1 g1 r2 w2 g2 t t1 值/μm 80 20 18 2 4 10 3 4 0.2 0.5 
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表 2 所提出的传感器与参考文献中传感器对比
Table 2. Comparison of the proposed sensors with the sensors in the references.
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表 3 乙醇-水溶液不同浓度折射率
Table 3. Refractive indices of ethanol-water solutions at different concentrations.
Ethanol-water solution
concentration (%)ε' ε'' n 100 2.6 0.66 1.63 90 2.7 0.7 1.66 80 2.9 0.82 1.72 70 3 0.83 1.75 60 3.2 0.98 1.81 50 3.6 1.2 1.92 40 3.78 1.43 1.978 30 3.7 1.9 1.982 20 4.2 2.4 2.13 10 4.4 3.1 2.21 0 4.73 4.07 2.34
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[1] Alsharif M H, Albreem M, Solyman A, Kim S 2021 Comput. Mater. Con. 66 2831
Google Scholar
[2] Ma A C, Zhong R B, Wu Z H, Wang Y Q, Yang L, Liang Z K, Fang Z, Liu S G 2020 Front. Phys. 8 584639
Google Scholar
[3] Barnes M E, Daniell G J, Gow P, Apostolopoulos V 2014 J. Infrared. Millim. Te. 35 1030
Google Scholar
[4] Zhou J, Zhang X, Huang G R, Yang X, Zhang Y, Zhan X Y, Tian H Y, Xiong Y, Wang Y X, Fu W L 2021 ACS Sensors 6 1884
Google Scholar
[5] Bartels A, Cerna R, Kistner C, Thoma A, Hudert F, Janke C, Dekorsy T 2007 Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78 035107
Google Scholar
[6] Sun X, Zhu G K, Hu J J, Jiang X, Liu Y 2019 J. Appl. Spectrosc. 86 661
Google Scholar
[7] Wang L, Qi Z P, Li Z, Guo L 2021 Opt. Int. J. Light Electron. Opt. 239 166873
Google Scholar
[8] Ahmadivand A, Gerislioglu B, Tomitaka A, Manickam P, Pala N 2018 Biomed. Opt. Express. 9 373
Google Scholar
[9] Zheludev N I 2010 Science 328 582
Google Scholar
[10] Shelby, R. A 2001 Ence. 292 77
Google Scholar
[11] Kaina N, Lemoult F, Fink M, Lerosey G 2015 Nat. Int. J. Sci. 525 77
Google Scholar
[12] Chen J B, Wang Y, Jia B H, Geng T, Li X P, Feng L, Qian W, Liang B M, Zhang X X, Gu M, Zhuang S L 2011 Nat. Photonics. 5 436
Google Scholar
[13] Zhai S L, Zhao X P, Liu S, Shen F L, Li L L, Luo C R 2016 Sci. Rep. 6 465
Google Scholar
[14] Wang G Q, Zhu F J, Lang T T, Liu J J, Hong Z, Qin J Y 2021 Nanoscale. Res. Lett. 16 109
Google Scholar
[15] Chen L, Liao D G, Guo X G, Zhao J Y, Zhu Y M, Zhuang S L 2019 Front. Inform. Tech. El. 20 591
Google Scholar
[16] Rezazadeh A, Soheilifar M R 2021 Optic. Quant. Electron. 53 555
Google Scholar
[17] 庞慧中, 王鑫, 王俊林, 王宗利, 刘苏雅拉图, 田虎强 2021 70 321
Google Scholar
Pang H Z, Wang X, Wang J L, Wang Z L, Liu S Y L T, Tian H Q 2021 Acta Phys. Sin. 70 321
Google Scholar
[18] Chen Z Y, Qu F F, Wang Y, Nie P C 2021 Spectrochim. Acta. A. Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 263 120222
Google Scholar
[19] Veeraselvam A, Mohammed G N A, Savarimuthu K, Sankararajan R 2021 Opt. Quant. Electron. 53 354
Google Scholar
[20] Xu J J, Liao D G, Gupta M, Zhu Y M, Zhuang S L, Singh R, Chen L 2021 Adv. Opt. Mater. 9 2100024
Google Scholar
[21] Shen Z L, Li S N, Xu Y F, Yin W, Zhang L Y, Chen X F 2021 Phys. Rev. Appl. 16 014066
Google Scholar
[22] 王月娥, 李东霞, 李智, 胡放荣 2020 光谱学与光谱分析 40 1785
Google Scholar
Wang Y E, Li D X, Li Z, Hu F R 2020 Spectrosc. Spec. Anal. 40 1785
Google Scholar
[23] Jepsen P U, Merbold H 2010 J. Infrared. Millim. Te. 31 430
Google Scholar
[24] Zhang C B, Xue T J, Zhang J, Liu L H, Xie J H, Wang G M, Yao J Q, Zhu W R, Ye X D 2021 Nanophotonics. 11 101
Google Scholar
[25] 陈涛, 黄锋宇, 钟鑫, 蒋未杰, 张大鹏 2021 光子学报 50 131
Google Scholar
Chen T, Huang F Y, Zhong X, Jiang W J, Zhang D P 2021 Acta Photonica Sin. 50 131
Google Scholar
[26] Islam M S, Sultana J, Biabanifard M, Vafapour Z, Nine M J, Dinovitser A, Cordeiro C M B, Ng B W H, Abbott D 2020 Carbon. 158 559
Google Scholar
[27] Saadeldin A S, Hameed M F O, Elkaramany E M A, Obayya S S A 2019 IEEE Sens. J. 19 7993
Google Scholar
[28] 杨洁萍, 王民昌, 邓琥, 康莹, 李宗仁, 刘泉澄, 熊亮, 武志翔, 屈薇薇, 尚丽平 2021 光学学报 41 218
Yang J P, Wang M C, Deng H, Kang Y, Li Z R, Liu Q C, Xiong L, Wu Z X, Qu W W, Shang L P 2021 Acta Optica. Sin. 41 218
[29] Jepsen P U, Mller U, Merbold H 2007 Opt. Express. 15 14717
Google Scholar
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