Optimized bow-tie metasurface and its application in trace detection of lead ion

Zhang Junqing; Wu Yiping; Chen Shenghao; Gu Shiyi; Sun Li; Zhou Ming; Chen Lin

doi:10.12086/oee.2021.210123

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Zhang J Q, Wu Y P, Chen S H, et al. Optimized bow-tie metasurface and its application in trace detection of lead ion[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2021, 48(8): 210123. doi: 10.12086/oee.2021.210123

Citation:

Zhang J Q, Wu Y P, Chen S H, et al. Optimized bow-tie metasurface and its application in trace detection of lead ion[J]. Opto-Electron Eng, 2021, 48(8): 210123. doi: 10.12086/oee.2021.210123

Optimized bow-tie metasurface and its application in trace detection of lead ion

1.
College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
2.
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, Shanghai 200093, China
3.
The Sino-British Collede, Shanghai 200031, China
4.
Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China
5.
Institute of Intelligent Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Fund Project: National Natural Science Foundation of China (61671302), the Shuguang Program of Shanghai, China (18SG44), and Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences Innovation Foundation, China (2020190189)

More Information

^*Corresponding author: Chen Lin, E-mail: linchen@usst.edu.cn

Received Date 16 April 2021

Revised Date 09 August 2021

Published Date 15 August 2021

Abstract

Abstract

The strong localized plasmon resonance of metasurfaces makes the resonance frequency extremely sensitive to the dielectric environment, which can be applied to label-free environment detection. In this paper, a bow-tie terahertz metasurface with an optimized ratio of the quality factor to effective mode volume(Q/V_eff) is designed. The unit cell of the proposed structure is composed of a mirror-symmetrical metallic bow tie in the middle and continuous metallic strips on both sides. The width of each metal strip and the length of the bow-tie gap are optimized for the parameter Q/V_eff. When the metal strip width is 25 μm and the gap length is 2 μm, the effective mode volume is 3.6 μm³ and Q/V_eff is 2.2 μm^-3 at 0.7 THz. In the experiment, different concentration of the lead ion solution was dropped on the proposed metasurface. The transmission spectrum was measured by a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system. The results showed that there is a linear relationship between resonance frequency shift and lead ion solution concentration from 0.1 ng/mL to 20 ng/mL. The detection limit is 0.1 ng/mL. The terahertz metasurface sensor has the advantages of the miniaturized size, easy sample preparation, fast measurement capability and real-time detection, which will be widely used in environmental protection and food safety.
- terahertz /
- metasurface /
- lead ion /
- effective mode volume /
- high sensitivity

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References

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Overview

Overview

Overview: Lead ion pollution in water is becoming a serious worldwide environmental problem. Effective and efficient detection of lead ion pollution requires sensitive and selective sensors with rapid on-site detection ability for performing the desired detection. Traditional spectroscopy, electrochemical, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) methods for lead ion detection have some problems, such as complex experimental technology, long measuring period, expensive equipment and so on, which are only suitable for laboratory analysis. In this direction, one appropriate alternative approach is exploring plasmonic metasensor technology for low-level lead ion detection, which offers sophisticated opportunities in lead ion detection and ecological environment protection. Terahertz wave has unique characteristics of low photon energy, excellent security and the nonionizing effect. Metasurfaces are promising tools that have facilitated precise screening and recognition of diverse molecules and biomolecules through substantial field confinement at subwavelength geometries. The terahertz metasurface sensor stems from its capability to squeeze electromagnetic fields, simultaneously in frequency and space. However, the radiative and nonradiative losses limit the quality factor (Q) of the metasurface. The observation and study of the effectively low mode volume (V_eff) were firstly reported in the middle of the twenty century, which was primarily established based on quantum electrodynamics. Metasurface designs with Q/V_eff cavities become extremely important for enhancing the light-matter interaction.

In this work, we demonstrate a modified bow-tie terahertz metasurface platform containing a micron-sized cavity with an optimized Q/V_eff value. The structural unit is composed of a mirror symmetrical metallic bow tie in the middle and two continuous metallic strips on both sides. Continuous metallic strip enhances the overall capacitance of metasurface unit cell, which allows the capacitive split gap cavity to store larger electromagnetic energy. When the continuous metal strip width is 25 μm and the gap size is 2 μm, the Q/V_eff of the proposed bow-tie terahertz metasurface reaches a maximum of 2.2 μm^-3 at 0.7 THz. For 4 µm thick analyte layer, and the sensitivity is about 80 GHz/RIU (refractive index unit), which is higher than traditional bow tie metasurface. The proposed metasurface is manufactured using a surface micromachining process and characterized by a THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system. For the lead ion solution with different concentrations, the experimental results indicate that the resonance frequency of the terahertz metasurface sensor decreases with the increase of the concentration of lead ion solution on the surface. When the concentration of lead ion solution ranges from 0.1 ng/mL to 20 ng/mL, the resonance frequency shift shows good linearity to the concentration of lead ion solution and the limit of detection (LOD) reaches 0.1 ng/mL. It is expected to provide a new lead ion solution detection scheme for the field of environmental protection and food safety.