Carbon Dioxide Gas Sensor Based on Terahertz Metasurface with Asymmetric Cross-Shaped Holes Empowered by Quasi-Bound States in the Continuum

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 25; no. 13; p. 4178
• Main Authors: He, Kai, Ma, Tian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04.07.2025; MDPI
• Subjects: Asymmetry; bound states in the continuum; Carbon dioxide; Copper; Electric fields; gas sensing; Optical properties; planar metasurface; Plasma etching; Sensors; Silver; Simulation; Symmetry; terahertz; bound states in the continuum; gas sensing; planar metasurface; terahertz
• DOI: 10.3390/s25134178
• ISSN: 1424-8220

In this paper, a novel type of polarization-insensitive terahertz metal metasurface with cross-shaped holes is presented, which is designed based on the theory of bound states in continuous media. The fundamental unit of the metasurface comprises a metal tungsten sheet with a cross-shaped hole structure. A thorough analysis of the optical properties and the quasi-BIC response is conducted using the finite element method. Utilizing the symmetry-breaking theory, the symmetry of the metal metasurface is broken, allowing the excitation of double quasi-BIC resonance modes with a high quality factor and high sensitivity to be achieved. Analysis of the multipole power distribution diagram and the spatial distribution of the electric field at the two quasi-BIC resonances verifies that the two quasi-BIC resonances of the metasurface are excited by electric dipoles and electric quadrupoles, respectively. Further simulation analysis demonstrates that the refractive index sensitivities of the two quasi-BIC modes of the metasurface reach 404.5 GHz/RIU and 578.6 GHz/RIU, respectively. Finally, the functional material PHMB is introduced into the metasurface to achieve highly sensitive sensing and detection of CO2 gas concentrations. The proposed metallic metasurface structure exhibits significant advantages, including high sensitivity, ease of preparation, and a high Q-value, which renders it highly promising for a broad range of applications in the domains of terahertz biosensing and highly sensitive gas sensing.