Membrane metamaterial resonators with a sharp resonance: A comprehensive study towards practical terahertz filters and sensors

We investigate the resonant properties of high quality-factor membrane-based metamaterial resonators functioning in the terahertz regime. A number of factors, including the resonator geometry, dielectric loss, and most importantly the membrane thickness are found to extensively influence the resonance strength and quality factor of the sharp resonance. Further studies on the membrane thickness-dependent-sensitivity for sensing applications reveal that high quality-factor membrane metamaterials with a moderate thickness ranging from 10 to 50 mu m are the most promising option towards developing realistic integrated terahertz filters and sensors. Copyright 2012 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4704549]