An oscillator-based sensor using a capacitive metal mesh for sensitive detection of dielectric materials in the terahertz region

Abstract

An oscillator-based sensor is proposed that uses a surface-wave resonance effect that happens in a capacitive metal mesh to detect dielectric materials sensitively in the terahertz region. Experiments performed at frequencies around 0.1 THz show that the oscillator-based sensor has a high sensitivity of 2.6 GHz/RIU (refractive index unit) and can identify a small difference of 3.8 × 10⁻⁴ in the refractive index of a dielectric material.