Ultrasensitive terahertz response mediated by split ring antenna induced giant resonant field enhancement

Optical resonators are widely utilized to enhance light–matter interaction by focusing electromagnetic waves into deep sub-wavelength regions. Here, we first present a metallic bowtie split ring (BSR) optical resonator as an asymmetric light coupler for a terahertz (THz) graphene photothermoelectric (PTE) detector. The giant THz field enhancement in the slit region of BSR is mediated by two types of resonances: the inductor–capacitor (LC) and the dipole resonances, which greatly increase the THz absorption, resulting in the sensitivity improvement of the THz PTE detector. In detail, the LC and dipole resonant behaviors of BSR are systematically investigated in both theoretical and experimental aspects. Compared with the dipole resonance, the LC resonance leads to stronger electric field localization and enhancement. An optimized BSR is designed and integrated with a graphene THz PTE detector, and an ultrasensitive THz PTE response is demonstrated. At room temperature and in zero-bias mode, the key detection parameters—responsivity, sensitivity (noise-equivalent power), and speed—are 138 V/W, 25 pW/Hz1/2, and 3.7 µs, respectively. Our results indicate that the LC resonance supported by BSR can introduce strong local field enhancement, which is helpful for realizing high sensitivity THz detectors.