THz Reconfigurable Metasurfaces and Imagers

THz waves possess unique characteristics that enable unprecedented sensing capabilities for personal health monitoring, environmental surveillance, security screening, and pharmaceutical, industrial, and agricultural quality control. This stems from the fact that most molecules exhibit distinct spectral signatures in the THz frequency range, while many materials that are opaque at optical frequencies remain relatively transparent to THz waves. Moreover, THz photons carry sufficiently low energy to avoid damage or ionization, making them especially suitable for biomedical sensing. Despite these advantages, the adoption of THz technology has long been hindered by the low efficiency, high cost, and bulky design of conventional systems. Here, we introduce a transformative technology that enables high-performance, low-cost, and compact THz spectroscopy and imaging platforms. Specifically, our systems leverage plasmonic nanoantennas to achieve signal-to-noise ratios several orders of magnitude higher than the state of the art, unlocking high-throughput hyperspectral THz imaging across a wide range of applications.