Tunable multistate terahertz switch based on multilayered graphene metamaterial

Abstract

We proposed plasmonic effect-based narrow band tunable terahertz switches consisting of multilayered graphene metamaterial. Though several terahertz optical switches based on metamaterials were previously reported, these switches had complicated fabrication processes, limited tunability, and low modulation depths. We designed and simulated ingenious four- and eight-state terahertz optical switch designs that can be functional for multimode communication or imaging using the finite-difference time-domain simulation technique. The plasmonic bright modes and transparency regions of these structures were adjusted by varying the chemical potential of patterned graphene layers via applying voltage in different layers. The structures exhibited high modulation depth and modulation degree of frequency, low insertion loss, high spectral contrast ratio, narrow bandwidth, and high polarization sensitivity. Moreover, our proposed simple fabrication process will make these structures more feasible compared to previously reported terahertz switches. The calculated modulation depths were 98.81% and 98.71%, and the maximum modulation degree of frequencies were $$\sim$$ 61% and $$\sim$$ 29.1% for four- and eight-state terahertz switches, respectively. The maximum transmittance in transparency regions between bright modes and the spectral contrast ratio were enumerated to be 95.9% and $$\sim$$ 96%, respectively. The maximum insertion losses were quite low with values of 0.22 dB and 0.33 dB for four- and eight-state terahertz switches, respectively. Our findings will be beneficial in the development of ultra-thin graphene-based multistate photonic devices for digital switching and sensing in the terahertz regime.