Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026
11:42
Fabrication of Gate-tunable Graphene Devices for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies with Coulomb Impurities
Published on: July 24, 2015
Switching terahertz waves with gate-controlled active graphene metamaterials.
Seung Hoon Lee1, Muhan Choi, Teun-Teun Kim
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 305-751, Republic of Korea.
Nature Materials
|October 2, 2012
Summary
Researchers integrated graphene into a metamaterial to control terahertz waves. This active graphene metamaterial achieved significant amplitude and phase modulation, demonstrating potential for photonic memory applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Metamaterials
- Graphene Electronics
Background:
- Graphene's unique electronic properties drive advancements in electronics and photonics.
- Graphene plasmonics offers potential for light manipulation, but unpatterned graphene has limited electro-optic tuning for practical applications due to non-resonant behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate substantial gate-induced modulation of terahertz waves using a graphene-integrated metamaterial.
- To enhance light-matter interaction in graphene for optoelectronic applications.
Main Methods:
- Integration of an atomically thin, gated graphene layer into a two-dimensional metamaterial.
- Utilizing metamaterial resonances to amplify the gate-controllable light-matter interaction in graphene.
Main Results:
- Achieved substantial gate-induced persistent switching and linear modulation of terahertz waves.
- Modulated transmitted wave amplitude by up to 47% and phase by 32.2° at room temperature.
- Observed hysteretic behavior in terahertz wave transmission, indicating photonic memory effects.
Conclusions:
- Graphene-integrated metamaterials significantly enhance electro-optic tuning capabilities.
- This approach enables efficient manipulation of terahertz waves with potential for photonic memory devices.
