Ultrathin metamaterial-based refractive index sensor for biomedical applications

Abstract

Abstract This work presented an ultrathin terahertz metamaterial-based sensor in the terahertz region. The suggested design comprised of gold metasurface atop on layer of dielectric spacer and a layer of gold at the bottom. The simulation results display dual frequencies found at 1.04 THz and 2.655 THz with absorptance rate closed to 100%. The suggested design displays sharp peaks and a maximum Q value of 132.75 in the dual-band absorptance profile. Moreover, the suggested sensor displays polarization independence which will eradicate the polarization demand of the device. The dual peaks of the suggested sensor are extremely sensitive to the refractive index variation of surrounding medium. Furthermore, the suggested sensor sensitivity increases up to 0.76 THz RIU−1 and figure of merit (FOM) reaches up to 38 RIU−1 lies between 1 to 2 RI range at 50 μm analyte thickness selected. Additionally, the sensor device has the ability of detection of glucose and malaria infection with high sensitivity and FOM.