Cryogenic temperature measurement of THz meta-resonance in symmetric metamaterial superlattice

Abstract

A symmetric metamaterial superlattice is introduced accommodating a high Q-factor trapped mode. THz time-domain spectroscopy is employed to measure the transmission spectra, identifying the excitation of trapped and open-modes in the meta-resonances. A finite-difference-time-domain calculation showed that the trapped mode excitation is from the cancelation of current densities among the nearest-neighboring meta-particles. A cryogenic temperature THz measurement is carried out to examine the temperature dependence of resonance characteristics of meta-resonances. At low temperatures, the temperature-independent radiative damping is dominant for the open-mode, while the Q-factor of the trapped mode is determined by the temperature-dependent phonon scattering and temperature-independent defect scattering with the radiative damping significantly suppressed. When compared with the room temperature measurement, a 16% increase in Q-factor is observed for the trapped mode, while a 7% increase for the open-mode at the cryogenic temperature. © 2011 Optical Society of America.