10/21/22, 12:42 PM A multi-purpose sensor based on plasmon-induced transparency in the terahertz range - ScienceDirect

Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and

Nanostructures
Volume 122, August 2020, 114215

A multi-purpose sensor based on plasmon-induced

transparency in the terahertz range
Ladan Akbari, Kambiz Abedi

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Abstract

In this paper, an insulator-semiconductor-insulator plasmonic waveguide is proposed based

on InSb in the terahertz range. The proposed plasmonic waveguide is an integrated
temperature and refractive index sensor. The plasmon-induced transparency used in this
integrated sensor reduces the sensor bandwidth by coupling two rolled-up micro-tubes. The
sensitivity of the proposed sensor for temperature and refractive index can reach 4388 nm/K
and 149.1 μm/RIU, respectively. The sensitivity of the sensor for refractive index is at least
805.95% larger than that of our previous work and the figure of merit is the order of 41.3. The
proposed sensor has a wide range of potential lab-on-chip applications and can measure the
variations of temperature and refractive index in the material under sensing.

Introduction

Plasmonics has led to significant advances in optoelectronic integrated circuits [1]. Lab-on-
chips are one of the most attractive areas of knowledge because they can be used for the
miniaturization of various devices [2]. Plasmonic structures can also be employed for the
miniaturization of lab devices [3]. To date, a wide range of plasmonic structures have been
proposed and designed for their applications in antennas [4], cloaking devices [5], sensors [[6],
[7], [8], [9]], and perfect absorbers [6,10]. Plasmonics has led to significant advances in sensors.
A wide range of plasmonic sensors such as optical fiber-based surface plasmon resonance [11],
surface Raman spectroscopy [12], and plasmonic grating [13] sensors have been proposed to
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sense a variety of biomaterials including glucose [6,14], DNA [8], viruses [15], and bacteria [16].
Plasmonic sensors also play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer
[16,17]. These plasmonic sensors cover a wide wavelength range from the infrared [15,16] to
the terahertz [4] range.

The terahertz range has received considerable attention in recent years not only because it is
an underdeveloped spectrum but also because of its specific optical properties [18]. The
terahertz wave can infiltrate both dielectric materials and low-loss non-polar liquids through
many mechanisms, making it an attractive alternative to X-ray and ultrasound imaging. In
addition, it can be used for the non-contact detection of illegal drugs or weapons. Unlike
other types of sensors, sensors fabricated with the terahertz wave do not damage biological
samples because the terahertz wave has a low energy. Moreover, the rotation and oscillation
frequency of many biomolecules are in the terahertz range. Therefore, the terahertz wave is
used as a sensitive method for the diagnosis of diseases and monitoring the functions of
organisms [19]. Furthermore, compared to microwave and radio frequencies, the terahertz
wavelength has a much wider bandwidth and can be used for short-range communications.
The sensitivity of plasmonic sensors depends on the amounts of the transmission and
bandwidth of resonance. The aim of the current paper is to increase sensitivity by increasing
the amount of resonance transmission and reducing the amount of resonance bandwidth.
One way to reduce the bandwidth of resonance is to use plasmon-induced transparency
[20,21].

Plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) is the implementation of a quantum phenomenon in a

classical system and is also called ‘electromagnetically induced transparency’ (EIT) [22]. EIT is
the destructive interaction of the probable quantum domains between two atomic states. One
state directly absorbs the light energy (the excited state) and the other indirectly absorbs the
light energy (the quasi-steady state). The two states have a destructive interaction with each
other. This destructive interaction significantly reduces the absorption of light in a very
narrow bandwidth and increases the transmission. The quantum EIT effect usually requires
highly sensitive and precise laboratory equipment. However, using plasmonic structures in
optical systems obviates this need. PIT controls the light in sub-wavelength structures and
acts as a good alternative method for obtaining the EIT effects [23]. This destructive
interaction in plasmonic structures causes a narrow band and an extremely high transmission
among the electromagnetic spectra from the infrared to the terahertz range. This enhances
the sensitivity of the sensor [24].

It is known that III-V compound semiconductors possess a temperature-dependent electrical

conductivity in the terahertz range. Indium antimonide (InSb) belongs to these groups and
possesses special optical advantages in the terahertz range including a narrow bandgap, low
loss, and high mobility [25,26]. Such properties make InSb an interesting candidate for
temperature sensors in the terahertz range [27]. Today, numerous InSb devices have been
investigated numerically [28] and experimentally [25,26,29]. In modeling these devices, there is
a good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results. A large number of

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semiconductor structures have recently been proposed for perfect absorbers [10], waveguides
[30], and sensors [31].

The 3D semiconductor-based plasmonic waveguide proposed in this study demonstrates the

PIT phenomenon in the terahertz band through the coupling of the rolled-up micro-tubes
(RUMTs). The proposed waveguide simultaneously senses the temperature and the refractive
index of each material inside the rolled-up micro-tube which is a very attractive option for
lab-on-chip applications.

The current paper is organized as follows. In section 2, the structure, scheme, and equations
of the plasmonic sensor are discussed. In section 3, the plasmon-induced transparency in the
proposed waveguide is introduced. The refractive index and temperature sensor is
investigated in section 4. In section 5, the importance of the geometry parameters is studied.
Finally, section 6 is dedicated to the concluding remarks.

Section snippets

The scheme and equations of the sensor

The 2D and 3D schematics of the plasmonic waveguide are illustrated in Fig. 1 and are the
same as those of our previous work [32] with the difference that one micro-tube has been
added to the structure. In addition, the effects of the coupling between the two circular tubes
are investigated. The 3D schematic of the plasmonic waveguide is demonstrated in Fig. 1(a).
The semiconductor micro-tube has a rolled-up design. In this design, a flat semiconductor
has been embedded on the quartz substrate…

The plasmon-induced transparency

Firstly, the optical responses of the proposed plasmonic waveguide in the terahertz range were
investigated. A strong resonance occurred at 0.83 THz in which the coupling parameter of the
two CRUMTs was s = 10 μm as shown in Fig. 3. The electric amplitude increased significantly
in 0.83 THz as shown in Fig. 4. This means that in the resonance frequency of 0.83 THz, the
incident light excited the SPPs and a high coupling occurred between the two CRUMTs.
Therefore, it is concluded that each of…

Refractive index and temperature sensor

Recently, plasmonic waveguides have been studied in designing various sensors for the
detection of gas in the environment [37], glucose [14], and other bio-materials. One of the
most important features of plasmonic structures is the dependence of their resonance

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frequency on the geometry, size, and refractive index of their medium, making them an
excellent choice in the design of optical sensors [34].

In a previous work, a graphene-based plasmon sensor was investigated in which the

resonance…

Tunable resonance frequency

As mentioned above, surface plasmon resonances are sensitive to the size, shape, and
refractive index of their surrounding medium [33]. In the previous two sections, the effects of
varying the refractive index and temperature of the rolled-up microtubes were investigated.
Now resizing the plasmonic sensor is considered. According to Fig. 10, by increasing the radii
of the RUMTs, the resonance frequency of the plasmonic sensor is shifted to lower
frequencies (red-shift). As can be seen in Fig. 10…

Conclusion

In the present work, a temperature and refractive index sensor based on semiconductor
RUMTs was investigated. This plasmonic sensor had a narrow bandwidth in the terahertz
range because of the coupling between the RUMTs. The PIT phenomenon occurred in the
optical responses which increased the temperature and refractive index sensitivities. The
proposed plasmonic sensor had an ultra-high sensitivity to temperature (4388 nm/K) and a
high sensitivity to refractive index (149.1 μm/RIU). The…

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal
relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.…

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