TITLE:
Terahertz Modulation of Hexagonal-Shaped Metamaterials Employing ZnO Quantum Dots
AUTHORS:
Clarissa D. Vázquez-Colón, Alvaro Flores-Pacheco, Janeth Alexandra García-Monge, Juan Adrián Zepeda-Galvéz, Daniel Shreiber, Arturo Ayón
KEYWORDS:
Terahertz, Metamaterials, Quantum Dots, Terahertz Spectroscopy, Modulation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Inorganic Non-metallic Materials,
Vol.9 No.1,
January
31,
2019
ABSTRACT: The utilization of UV excitation to verify the terahertz (THz) wave modulation of hexagonal-shaped metamaterial (MM) arrays coated with synthesized photoluminescent, down-shifting ZnO quantum dots (QDs) of two different radius sizes, namely, 3.00 nm (pH 10) and 2.12 nm (pH 12), respectively is reported. In order to characterize the behavior of the MM before and after deployment of the ZnO QDs, THz time domain spectroscopy in transmission mode was employed. Upon exposure to UV excitation, the collected amplitude modulation values were 9.21% for the pH 12 and 4.55% for the pH 10 ZnO QDs, respectively. It is anticipated that the ability to actively tune the performance of otherwise passive structures will promote the proliferation of THz signal modulation devices in the near future.