Liquid Crystal Tunable Metamaterial Perfect Absorber

Abstract

We present experimental demonstration of electronically tunable metamaterial perfect absorbers in the terahertz regime. By incorporation of active liquid crystal into strategic locations within the metamaterial unit cell we are able to modify the absorption by 30 percent at 2.62 THz, as well as tune the resonant absorption over 4 percent in bandwidth. Numerical full-wave simulations match well to experiments and clarify the underlying mechanism, i.e. a simultaneous tuning of both the electric and magnetic response that allows for the preservation of the resonant absorption. These results show that the fundamental light interactions of surfaces can be dynamically controlled by all-electronic means and provide a path forward for realization of novel applications.