Abstract-High-precision digital terahertz phase manipulation within a multichannel field perturbation coding chip

 

Hongxin Zeng, Huajie Liang, Yaxin Zhang, Lan Wang, Shixiong Liang, Sen Gong, Zheng Li, Ziqiang Yang, Xilin Zhang, Feng Lan, Zhihong Feng, Yubin Gong, Ziqiang Yang, Daniel M. Mittleman

 

Fig. 1: MFPCC architecture and its high-precision terahertz phase manipulation function.

Fig. 2: Perturbation and phase shift of a single 2DEG-PMU with 0 and 1 states.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-021-00851-6

Direct phase modulation is one of the most urgent and difficult issues in the terahertz research area. Here, we propose a new method employing a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) perturbation microstructure unit coupled to a transmission line to realize high-precision digital terahertz phase manipulation. We induce local perturbation resonances to manipulate the phase of guided terahertz waves. By controlling the electronic transport characteristics of the 2DEG using an external voltage, the strength of the perturbation can be manipulated, which affects the phase of the guided waves. This external control permits electronic manipulation of the phase of terahertz waves with high precision, as high as 2−5° in the frequency range 0.26–0.27 THz, with an average phase error of only 0.36°, corresponding to a timing error of only 4 fs. Critically, the average insertion loss is as low as 6.14 dB at 0.265 THz, with a low amplitude fluctuation of 0.5 dB, so the device offers near-ideal phase-only modulation.

Abstract-High-precision digital terahertz phase manipulation within a multichannel field perturbation coding 2DEG meta-chip

Hongxin Zeng, Huajie Liang, Yaxin Zhang, Ziqiang Yang, Feng Lan, Shixiong Liang, Zheng Li, Lan Wang, Xilin Zhang, Sen Gong, Yubin Gong, Ziqiang Yang, 

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-92448/v1

Terahertz phase manipulation has always been based on direct coupling of the resonance of quasi-optical terahertz waves with metamaterials, which is accompanied by unnecessary amplitude modulation, thus limiting the accuracy of phase manipulation and its application in monolithic integrated systems. Here, we propose a coding meta-chip composed of transmission lines and two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) meta-atoms, wherein local perturbation resonances are induced to manipulate the phase of terahertz waves. By controlling the electronic transport characteristics of the 2DEG with external voltages, the intensity of the perturbation can be manipulated, which affects the transmission phase of the waves. More importantly, the perturbation resonances induced by different meta-atoms can be coupled so that through digital coding of the perturbation state of 2DEG meta-atoms, the terahertz wave transmission phase can be manipulated with high precision. As a result, phase manipulation with different precisions from 2° to 5° is observed from 0.26 to 0.27 THz, where the average phase error is only 0.36°, and the maximum root mean square of the transmittance is 0.36 dB. This high-precision phase manipulation via field coding has great application potential in the fields of beamforming, wireless communication, and high-resolution imaging.

Abstract-High-speed efficient terahertz modulation based on tunable collective-individual state conversion within an active 3nm-two dimensional electron gas metasurface

Yuncheng Zhao, Lan Wang, Yaxin Zhang, Shen Qiao, Shixiong Liang, Xilin Zhang, Xiaoqing Guo, Zhihong Feng, Feng Lan, Zhi Chen, Xiaobo Yang, Ziqiang Yang,

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01273#

Terahertz (THz) modulators are always realized by dynamically manipulating the conversion between different resonant modes within a single unit cell of an active metasurface. In this paper, to achieve real high-speed THz modulation, we present a staggered netlike two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) nanostructure composite metasurface that has two states: a collective state with massive surface resonant characteristics and an individual state with meta-atom resonant characteristics. By controlling the electron transport of the nanoscale 2DEG with an electrical grid, collective-individual state conversion can be realized in this composite metasurface. Unlike traditional resonant mode conversion confined in meta-units, this state conversion enables the resonant modes to be flexibly distributed throughout the metasurface, leading to a frequency shift of nearly 99% in both the simulated and experimental transmission spectra. Moreover, such a mechanism can effectively suppress parasitic modes and significantly reduce the capacitance of the metasurface. Thereby, this composite metasurface can efficiently control the transmission characteristics of THz waves with high-speed modulations. As a result, 93% modulation depth is observed in the static experiment and modulated sinusoidal signals up to 3 GHz are achieved in the dynamic experiment while the -3dB bandwidth can reach up to 1GHz. This tunable collective-individual state conversion may have great application potential in wireless communication and coded imaging.