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Type: 
Journal
Description: 
Liquid-crystal devices are a promising cheap alternative for terahertz light modulation, albeit they suffer from problems associated with thick cells. Here we describe a few-micron-thick polarization-independent nematic liquid-crystal metamaterial device displaying terahertz reflectance modulation depths above 23 dB, millisecond response times, low operating voltages, and a spectral tuning of more than 15%. The dramatic performance improvement is based on invoking critical coupling with external fields, which rests on a suitable choice of resonator geometry. We analyze the coupling mechanism to conclude that perfect absorption can be reached with a wide range of parameters and liquid-crystal materials. The proposed device performance, microscopic details, and the nematic molecule switching dynamics are evaluated with the use of a rigorous tensorial formulation of the Landau–de Gennes theory and shown …
Publisher: 
American Physical Society
Publication date: 
11 Jun 2015
Authors: 

Goran Isić, Borislav Vasić, Dimitrios C Zografopoulos, Romeo Beccherelli, Radoš Gajić

Biblio References: 
Volume: 3 Issue: 6 Pages: 064007
Origin: 
Physical Review Applied