Highly efficient optical modulation of terahertz (THz) transmission through Si substrate coated with thin layer of organic π-conjugated materials was investigated under various laser light irradiation conditions using THz time-domain spectroscopy. As in the pioneering work by Yoo et al. [Yoo et al., Applied Physics Letters. 2013;103:151116-1–151116-3.], we also used copper phthalocyanine (CuPc). It was perceived that the charge carrier transfer from Si to CuPc is crucial for the photo-induced metallization and efficient optical modulation of THz transmission. We found that the thickness of CuPc layer is a critical parameter to realize high charge carrier density for efficient THz transmission modulation. We also fabricated a split-ring resonator (SRR) array metamaterial on CuPc-coated Si utilizing superfine inkjet printer and succeeded in obtaining efficient modulation of resonant responses of SRR array metamaterials by laser light irradiation. We have further investigated THz transmission modulation through Si substrates coated with another four solution-processable π-conjugated materials. Two of them are π-conjugated low molecules such as the [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene), and another two are the π-conjugated polymer materials such as poly[5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-2-methoxycyanoterephthalyliden] (MEH-CN-PPV) and poly(benzimidazobenzophenanthroline) (BBL). Among these four π-conjugated materials, PCBM- and TIPS-pentacene showed better modulation efficiencies even higher than CuPc. Our findings may open the way to fabricating various types of THz active devices utilizing printing technologies.
Part of the book: Printed Electronics