Active Thermal Control of 5 nm Gap Terahertz Antennas

Abstract

Metallic nanostructures are combined with various active materials for electrical, optical, and thermal modulations of their optical properties. In particular, for the thermal modulation, deformation of metallic nanostructures at high temperatures limits the applications to relatively low temperatures, where thermal expansion of metals is negligible. Here, a unique regime is reported where terahertz (THz) waves transmitting through 5 nm wide slot antennas can be significantly modulated via controlled thermal expansion of metals without active materials. The normalized amplitude is modulated by 20% and the resonant frequency by 22% at an elevated temperature of 150 degrees C, indicating a decrease in the gap width by 50%. The extreme width-to-length ratio of the THz slot antennas compensates the small thermal expansion coefficient of metals, enabling the gap width to be considerably changed. COMSOL simulation and coupled-mode method (CMM) calculation quantitatively support the experimental data. This works suggests a new possibility of thermally active metallic nanostructures.