Highly Sensitive Terahertz Sensing of Glycerol-Water Mixtures with Metamaterials

We demonstrate the highly sensitive terahertz (THz) sensing of a water-glycerol mixture poured on a metamaterial surface using reflection-based THz time domain spectroscopy. The reflectance at the resonant dip frequency changes significantly with glycerol concentration. The detection sensitivity is about 8 times higher than that compared to the case without a metamaterial structure. We also investigate how sensitivity depends on the Q factor of the metamaterial resonance for highly absorptive media, such as a water solution in the THz region.