Active terahertz modulator and slow light metamaterial devices with hybrid graphene-superconductor photonic integrated circuits

TL;DR

This paper introduces hybrid graphene-superconductor metamaterial devices capable of actively modulating and slowing terahertz light, with significant tunability and potential applications in quantum communication and processing.

Contribution

It presents a novel hybrid graphene-superconductor metamaterial design with enhanced modulation depth and slow light capabilities for terahertz applications.

Findings

Maximum modulation depths of 57.3% for EIT and 97.61% for group delay achieved.

Significant enhancement in THz transmission and slow light responses with Nb in quantum phase.

Hybrid devices enable active control of terahertz light for integrated photonic applications.

Abstract

Metamaterial photonic integrated circuits with arrays of hybrid graphene-superconductor coupled split-ring resonators (SRR) capable of modulating and slowing down terahertz (THz) light are introduced and proposed. The hybrid device optical responses, such as electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) and group delay, can be modulated in several ways. First, it is modulated electrically by changing the conductivity and carrier concentrations in graphene. Alternatively, the optical response can be modified by acting on the device temperature sensitivity, by switching Nb from a lossy normal phase to a low-loss quantum mechanical phase below the transition temperature (Tc) of Nb. Maximum modulation depths of 57.3 % and 97.61 % are achieved for EIT and group delay at the THz transmission window, respectively. A comparison is carried out between the Nb-graphene-Nb coupled SRR-based devices with those of Au-graphene-Au SRRs and a significant enhancement of the THz transmission, group delay, and EIT responses are observed when Nb is in the quantum mechanical phase. Such hybrid devices with their reasonably large and tunable slow light bandwidth pave the way for the realization of active optoelectronic modulators, filters, phase shifters, and slow light devices for applications in chip-scale quantum communication and quantum processing.