Electrothermally actuated microelectromechanical systems based omega-ring terahertz metamaterial with polarization dependent characteristics

We present the design, simulation, fabrication, and characterization of a continuously tunable Omega-ring terahertz metamaterial. The tunability of metamaterial is obtained by integrating microactuators into the metamaterial unit cell. Electrothermal actuation mechanism is used to provide higher tuning range, larger stroke, and enhanced repeatability. The maximum achieved tuning range for the resonant frequency is around 0.30 THz for the input power of 500mW. This shows the potential of using electrothermally actuated microactuators based tunable metamaterial design for application such as filters, absorbers, sensors, and spectral imagers. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.