We propose asymmetric D-split resonators as unit cells for high Q metasurfaces. In such resonators, current trapped modes lead to in-phase oscillations of antisymmetric currents. Thus, radiation losses are suppressed, enabling Q-factors beyond the ones obtainable in symmetric designs. We compare the proposed structure against both asymmetric and symmetric split ring metasurfaces and find an improvement in terms of Q by a factor of two and ten, respectively. Transmission measurements in a terahertz spectrometer provide experimental proof of the high Q-factors and agree well with numerical simulations. In the future, asymmetric D-split metasurfaces could be employed as high-performance sensors or filters.

We present a novel measurement setup for monitoring changes in leaf water status using nondestructive terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Previous studies on a variety of plants showed the principal applicability of THz-TDS. In such setups, decreasing leaf water content directly correlates with increasing THz transmission. Our new system allows for continuous, nondestructive monitoring of the water status of multiple individual plants each at the same constant leaf position. It overcomes previous drawbacks, which were mainly due to the necessity of relocating the plants. Using needles of silver fir (Abies alba) seedlings as test subjects, we show that the transmission varies along the main axis of a single needle due to a variation in thickness. Therefore, the relocation of plants during the measuring period, which was necessary in the previous THz-TDS setups, should be avoided. Furthermore, we show a highly significant correlation between gravimetric water content and respective THz transmission. By monitoring the relative change in transmission, we were able to narrow down the permanent wilting point of the seedlings. Thus, we established groups of plants with well-defined levels of water stress that could not be detected visually. This opens up the possibility for a broad range of genetic and physiological experiments.

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We propose polarization and angle insensitive metamaterials at terahertz frequencies consisting of two concentric ring resonators with interdigitated fingers placed between the rings. We experimentally demonstrate that the bandstop resonance remains unaffected by changes in both the incident angle and the polarization. Furthermore, high quality-factors of more than 16 are observed as Fano-like modes with small dipole moments are excited. We show that the sharpness of the resonance can be controlled by the number of interdigitated finger pairs. The structures exhibit pronounced normal phase dispersion near the resonance, which renders them attractive candidates for electromagnetic induced transparency and slow light applications.

We report on the excitation of sharp Fano-like resonances in lattices of metamolecules composed of two differing types of metaatoms. The proposed structures exhibit modes originating from the individual metaatoms as well as a very sharp mode from the collective excitation of the metamolecule lattice as a whole. Next-generation thin film sensors (e.g., for bio/chemical hazard detectors) could especially benefit from such artificial materials. Having multiple modes at different spectral positions enables the characterization of dispersive materials, while the high Q-factors of the eigenmodes lead to a very high sensitivity.