Effect of local field enhancement on the nonlinear terahertz response of a silicon-based metamaterial

We demonstrate the strong effect of the local field enhancement on the nonlinear terahertz response of a hybrid photoexcited silicon/double concentric ring metamaterial structure. The ring resonators enhance the local terahertz electric field by more than a factor of ten, pushing the terahertz-semiconductor interaction into the high-field regime even for moderate-strength incident terahertz pulses. In this regime, terahertz field-induced intervalley scattering in the photoexcited silicon substrate dynamically alters the substrate conductivity, which in turn strongly modifies the pulse transmission. The spatial distribution of the local field enhancement within the resonator structure results in a modified bandwidth, amplitude, and central frequency of the transmission resonance occurring on a subcycle time scale. These results demonstrate an enhancement of the nonlinear terahertz response of silicon-based metamaterials that must be accounted for in the design of terahertz nonlinear devices.