Optical tuning of ultra-thin, silicon-based flexible metamaterial membranes in the terahertz regime

We present a fabrication method for flexible optically tunable terahertz metamaterial membranes based on thinning and embedding of commercially available silicon wafers in the metamaterial structure. The resulting membrane thickness of less than 25 mu m allows for quasi etalon-effect free devices which can be designed to show impedance matching to the surrounding air. We fabricated a thin film spectral bandpass filter with a maximal transmission of 85% and a modulation depth upon optical tuning of 98% at an operating frequency of 0.65THz. Further, we discussed the charge carrier dynamics and the requirements for optical tuning. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America