The apoptosis of cancer cells was experimentally measured by terahertz (THz) biosensors based on the metamaterials (MMs). The non-bianisotropic resonance with an electric field of up to 10⁶ V/m was exhibited at 0.85 THz, where the magnetic dipoles were cancelled in the unit cell. The simulate results show the dependence of the frequency shift on the occupying ratio and refractive index of analytes. The theoretical sensitivity was calculated to 182 GHz/RIU. The experimental results imply that the resonant frequency would red shift with the increase of the concentration of cancer cells. Furthermore, the apoptosis of cancer cells HSC3 under the effect of drug concentration from 1 to 15 μM and drug action time from 24 to 72 hours were also studied by the biosensors, respectively. It shows that the trend agrees with the results measured by the biological CCK-8 kits method. Our proposed MMs-based biosensors may supply a novel viewpoint on cell apoptosis from a physical perspective and be a valuable complementary reference for biological study.

Biosensors based on terahertz (THz) metasurfaces have recently attracted widespread attention. However, few have been reported so far because it is a challenge to achieve ultrasensitive multidimensional detection in the THz spectrum. Here, we propose a novel THz biosensor that consists of a metasurfaces and a metal oxide semiconductor‐like structure (MOSLS), which is based on patterned graphene–polyimide–perovskite. We varied the photoconductivity of the MOSLS via the electrostatic doping effect. The biosensor could detect whey protein down to a concentration limit of 6.25 ng/mL. Significant responses in frequency, phase, and transmission amplitude were all detected for different protein concentrations. The transmission value difference, frequency shift, and phase difference increased with the concentration of whey protein, clearly demonstrating multidimensional biosensing. Moreover, by applying lasers with different wavelengths, we have realized reversible biosensing in THz region for the first time. These results are very promising for applications of THz metasurfaces in the field of biosensing.

A novel broadband and wide-angle 2-bit coding metasurface for radar cross section (RCS) reduction is proposed and characterized at terahertz (THz) frequencies. The ultrathin metasurface is composed of four digital elements based on a metallic double cross line structure. The reflection phase difference of neighboring elements is approximately 90° over a broadband THz frequency. The mechanism of RCS reduction is achieved by optimizing the coding element sequences, which redirects the electromagnetic energies to all directions in broad frequencies. An RCS reduction of less than −10 dB bandwidth from 0.7 THz to 1.3 THz is achieved in the experimental and numerical simulations. The simulation results also show that broadband RCS reduction can be achieved at an incident angle below 60° for TE and TM polarizations under flat and curve coding metasurfaces. These results open a new approach to flexibly control THz waves and may offer widespread applications for novel THz devices.

Integrating novel materials is critical for the ultrasensitive, multi-dimensional detection of biomolecules in the terahertz (THz) range. Few studies on THz biosensors have used semiconductive active layers with tunable energy band structures. In this study, we demonstrate three THz biosensors for detecting casein molecules based on the hybridization of the metasurface with graphitic carbon nitride, graphene, and heterojunction. We achieved low-concentration detection of casein molecules with a 3.54 ng/mL limit and multi-dimensional sensing by observing three degrees of variations (frequency shift, transmission difference, and phase difference). The favorable effect of casein on the conductivity of the semiconductive active layer can be used to explain the internal sensing mechanism. The incorporation of protein molecules changes the carrier concentration on the surface of the semiconductor active layer via the electrostatic doping effect as the concentration of positively charged casein grows, which alters the energy band structure and the conductivity of the active layer. The measured results indicate that any casein concentration can be distinguished directly by observing variations in resonance frequency, transmission value, and phase difference. With the heterojunction, the biosensor showed the highest response to the protein among the three biosensors. The Silvaco Atlas package was used to simulate the three samples’ energy band structure and carrier transport to demonstrate the benefits of the heterojunction for the sensor. The simulation results validated our proposed theoretical mechanism model. Our proposed biosensors could provide a novel approach for THz metasurface-based ultrasensitive biosensing technologies.

Active control of the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) analog is desirable in photonics development. Here, we theoretically and experimentally proposed a novel terahertz (THz) asymmetric metasurface structure that can possess high-sensitivity modulation under extremely low power density by integrating perovskite or graphene. Using the novel metasurface structure with the perovskite coating, the maximum amplitude modulation depth (AMD) of this perovskite-based device reached 490.53% at a low power density of 12.8037 mW / cm 2 . In addition, after the novel THz metasurface structure was combined with graphene, this graphene-based device also achieved high AMD with the maximum AMD being 180.56% at 16.312 mW / cm 2 , and its transmission amplitude could be electrically driven at a low bias voltage. The physical origin of this modulation was explained using a two-oscillator EIT model. This work provides a promising platform for developing high-sensitivity THz sensors, light modulators, and switches.