Terahertz Biosensor Based on Mode Coupling between Defect Mode and Optical Tamm State with Dirac Semimetal

Abstract

Bulk Dirac semimetal (BDS) has emerged as a “3D graphene” material for the development of optical devices in the past few years. In this study, a BDS-based tunable highly sensitive terahertz (THz) biosensor is proposed by using a Dirac semimetal/Bragg reflector multilayer structure. The high sensitivity of the biosensor originates from the sharp Fano resonance peak caused by coupling the Optical Tamm State (OTS) mode and defect mode. Besides, the sensitivity of the proposed structure is sensitive to the Fermi energy of Dirac semimetal and the refractive index of the sensing medium. The maximum sensitivity of 1022°/RIU is obtained by selecting structural and material parameter appropriately, which has certain competitiveness compared to conventional surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. From the standpoint of the fabrication facility and integration, we judged that the BDS-based layered structure has the potential application in biosensor field.

Keywords

• biosensor
• mode coupling
• Dirac semimetal
• optical Tamm state