Fluorinated graphene grating metasurface for terahertz dark state excitation

We propose an original technique for the grating metasurfaces fabrication by low-power ultraviolet laser treatment of fluorinated graphene (FG) films with the focus on terahertz applications. The laser treatment reduces dielectric FG to its conductive counterparts, increasing DC conductivity to 170 S center dot m(-1) for treated areas. The electromagnetic response of the grating metasurfaces studied by THz time-domain spectroscopy in the 100 GHz-1 THz frequency range demonstrates enhanced resonant transmittance through metasurfaces. The intensity and position of transmittance peak could be tuned by changing the metasurface geometry, i.e. the period of the structure and width of the reduced and unreduced areas. In particular, the decrease of the reduced FG area width from 400 to 170 mu m leads to the shift of the resonance peak from 0.45 THz to the higher frequencies, 0.85 THz. Theoretical description based on the multipole theory supported by finite element numerical calculations confirms the excitation of the dark state in the metasurface unit cells comprising reduced and unreduced FG areas at resonance frequency determined by the structure geometrical features. Fabricated metasurfaces have been proved to be efficient narrowband polarizers being rotated by 50 degrees about the incident THz field vector.

Automated summary

We propose a novel laser treatment technique for fabricating grating metasurfaces using fluorinated graphene (FG) films, which significantly enhances their terahertz transmission properties. The treatment transforms the insulating FG into conductive material, resulting in a DC conductivity of 170 S·m(-1) in the treated areas. The resonance transmittance of the metasurfaces, studied using THz time-domain spectroscopy in the 100 GHz-1 THz frequency range, shows enhancement and tunability by changing the metasurface geometry. The fabricated metasurfaces also demonstrate efficient narrowband polarization rotation of 50 degrees.