A novel dual-band terahertz metamaterial absorber for a sensor application

We present a new type of dual-band terahertz metamaterial absorber formed by a patterned metallic strip and a dielectric layer on top of a metallic ground plane. It is found that besides a strong absorption in the fundamental resonance, a prominent high-order resonance with near-unity absorption is also unveiled. The origin of the induced dual-band absorption was elucidated. Importantly, the quality factor (Q) and the figure of merit (FOM) of the high-order resonance are 8.4 and 22.7 times larger than that of the fundamental resonance, respectively, which makes the proposed absorber to have significant potential in biological monitoring and sensing. Moreover, we demonstrate a dual-band and insensitive for two orthogonal polarizations terahertz absorber based on a metallic cross and a metallic ground plane separated by a dielectric layer. The Q and FOM of the high-order resonance are still larger than that of the fundamental resonance. The proposed absorbers appear to be very promising for solar cells, detection, and imaging applications. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.