Electrically reconfigurable terahertz signal processing devices using liquid metal components

Reichel, Kimberly S.; Lozada-Smith, Nicolas; Joshipura, Ishan D.; Ma, Jianjun; Shrestha, Rabi; Mendis, Rajind; Dickey, Michael D.; Mittleman, Daniel M.

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06463-z

Cited by 44 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Mittleman et al developed an electrically reconfigurable terahertz signal processing strategy that can be applied as active power‐splitting switch and channel add‐drop filter. From incorporation of the electrically actuated LM components, the as‐designed power splitter can realize the switching of the output ports.…”

Section: Applications Of Liquid Metal–based Microfluidic Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid Metal–Based Soft Microfluidics

Zhu

Wang

Handschuh‐Wang

et al. 2019

Small

170

123

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Motivated by the increasing demand of wearable and soft electronics, liquid metal (LM)‐based microfluidics has been subjected to tremendous development in the past decade, especially in electronics, robotics, and related fields, due to the unique advantages of LMs that combines the conductivity and deformability all‐in‐one. LMs can be integrated as the core component into microfluidic systems in the form of either droplets/marbles or composites embedded by polymer materials with isotropic and anisotropic distribution. The LM microfluidic systems are found to have broad applications in deformable antennas, soft diodes, biomedical sensing chips, transient circuits, mechanically adaptive materials, etc. Herein, the recent progress in the development of LM‐based microfluidics and their potential applications are summarized. The current challenges toward industrial applications and future research orientation of this field are also summarized and discussed.

show abstract

Section: Applications Of Liquid Metal–based Microfluidic Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid Metal–Based Soft Microfluidics

Zhu

Wang

Handschuh‐Wang

et al. 2019

Small

170

123

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, a flexible metamaterial absorber based on liquid metal and PDMS was proposed [119][120][121]. Reichel et al also designed a terahertz signal-processing device with liquid metal, which was electrically reconfigurable [122].…”

Section: Metamaterials Biosensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Liquid Metal-Enabled Flexible and Wearable Sensors

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sensors are core elements to directly obtain information from surrounding objects for further detecting, judging and controlling purposes. With the rapid development of soft electronics, flexible sensors have made considerable progress, and can better fit the objects to detect and, thus respond to changes more sensitively. Recently, as a newly emerging electronic ink, liquid metal is being increasingly investigated to realize various electronic elements, especially soft ones. Compared to conventional soft sensors, the introduction of liquid metal shows rather unique advantages. Due to excellent flexibility and conductivity, liquid-metal soft sensors present high enhancement in sensitivity and precision, thus producing many profound applications. So far, a series of flexible and wearable sensors based on liquid metal have been designed and tested. Their applications have also witnessed a growing exploration in biomedical areas, including health-monitoring, electronic skin, wearable devices and intelligent robots etc. This article presents a systematic review of the typical progress of liquid metal-enabled soft sensors, including material innovations, fabrication strategies, fundamental principles, representative application examples, and so on. The perspectives of liquid-metal soft sensors is finally interpreted to conclude the future challenges and opportunities.2 of 25 to monitor skin strain and muscle movement [32]. Introduction of soft sensors has greatly propelled the development of intelligent artificial skin, which provides not only aesthetic functions, but also perception of tactile sensation and temperature measurement [33,34]. They can also be applied to realize intelligent perception and control for robots [35][36][37]. Moreover, flexible sensors can tightly fit the object and maintain performance even while being stretched. In this way, they can respond to changes more sensitively and detect position and posture alteration in real time.Up to now, materials and techniques to achieve flexible sensors have been widely explored. To obtain better application output for the human body, both flexibility and biocompatibility of the substrates are required. Soft thermoplastic polymers and silicone elastomers are the most common substrates used to fabricate flexible sensors, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poly urethane (PU), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Eco Flex [38]. Moreover, the sensing elements are other important parts, which are mainly made up of conductive materials, including organic and inorganic nanomaterials [39,40]. Carbon-based materials, such as carbon nanotube and graphene, have been investigated in various soft circuits [39,[41][42][43][44][45][46]. Although circuits fabricated by carbon-based materials are highly stretchable, they are not as conductive as those fabricated by metals. Nanoparticles of rigid metals are applied to design soft circuits with high conductivity, among which silver nanoparticles have been extensively studied [47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. Moreover, liquid me...

show abstract

“…[205][206][207][208][209][210] By adjusting the flow of liquid metal in guiding channels made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or glass, the overall structure can be selectively reformed. Liquid metals with melting points below room temperature, such as eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) or galinstan (Ga-In-Sb alloy), are promising candidates for enabling various modifications of plasmonic patterns.…”

Section: Liquid Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[210] In the case of the power-splitting switch, the output ports of the T-junction waveguide can be switched according to the position of the liquid metal plug in the channel Adv. [210] In the case of the power-splitting switch, the output ports of the T-junction waveguide can be switched according to the position of the liquid metal plug in the channel Adv.…”

Section: Liquid Metalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dynamic Terahertz Plasmonics Enabled by Phase‐Change Materials

Jeong

Bahk

Kim

2019

Advanced Optical Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Phase‐change phenomena have been an attractive research theme for decades due to the dynamic transition of material properties providing extraordinary capabilities for versatile optical device applications. Even at the terahertz (THz) frequency regime, phase‐change materials (PCMs) promote the development of dynamic devices, especially when combined with a plasmonic approach delivering strong field enhancement and localization. According to the design of plasmonic metamaterials or hybrid composites, PCMs can actively modulate the electromagnetic properties of THz waves through thermal, electrical, and optical means. In turn, THz waves can affect the PCM properties in the nonlinear regime due to the intense field strength enhancement by plasmonic structures. Here, a few types of PCMs demonstrating promising potential in THz plasmonic applications are introduced. Starting from the best‐known transition metal oxide, vanadium dioxide (VO2), which possesses an insulator‐to‐metal phase transition near room temperature, superconductors, chalcogenides, ferroelectrics, liquid crystals, and liquid metals are covered along with their phase‐change properties and the control mechanisms infused with THz plasmonic applications. The corresponding recent progress presenting how PCMs combined with plasmonic structures can demonstrate effective THz modulation is reviewed. This general overview may provide a better understanding of dynamic THz plasmonics and new ideas for future THz technology.

show abstract

Electrically reconfigurable terahertz signal processing devices using liquid metal components

Cited by 44 publications

References 32 publications

Liquid Metal–Based Soft Microfluidics

Liquid Metal–Based Soft Microfluidics

Advances in Liquid Metal-Enabled Flexible and Wearable Sensors

Dynamic Terahertz Plasmonics Enabled by Phase‐Change Materials

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About