High Performance THz Detector Arrays Using Planar Metamaterial Absorbers

DOLCE Technologies, LLC, in collaboration with Professor Rick Averitt’s research group at Boston University and Eric Shaner’s group at Sandia National Laboratories, will develop and deliver a high performance room-temperature Terahertz detector array solution based on metamaterial absorbers integrated with bi-material cantilevers. The metamaterial approach is frequency scalable and can operate from 0.1 – 10 THz by implementing proper design. The Phase I effort will largely be concerned with design, fabrication, and characterization of single pixel video-rate performance over the frequency range from 0.1 – 3 THz. During Phase II, we will push the sensitivity of the single pixel elements as close to the theoretical maximum noise-equivalent temperature difference of 10mK as possible and extend the responsivity further into the THz spectrum. The Phase II effort will also address practical readout approaches for focal plane arrays based on this cantilever technology with the final result being a prototype video-rate Terahertz detector array operating at room temperature. BENEFIT: The Terahertz frequency band is relatively underutilized for imaging and spectroscopy applications due to the scarcity of inexpensive, high power sources and sensitive detectors. DOLCE Technologies’ will fill this niche of nascent applications in the standoff sensing, chemical detection, and homeland security areas. Biomedical imaging, astronomical as well as terrestrial spectroscopy, and pharmaceutical manufacturing are just a few of the many technical arenas that will benefit from a high performance room-temperature Terahertz imaging platform. Finally, it is likely that no group of corporate founders possesses as solid a track record of commercializing SBIR/STTR products as the former Sensors Unlimited management team that makes up the DOLCE Technologies partnership.