Experimental validation of group delay in a multi-window electromagnetically induced transparency metasurface

Abstract

Metasurface analogs of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) are attracting sustaining attention due to their ability to maintain transparency windows accompanied by extreme dispersion of propagating waves, which are important for slow light devices and highly sensitive optical sensors. In this paper, we study theoretically, numerically, and experimentally the conditions for the existence of multi-band transparency windows in the metasurface supported by the interaction of dipole modes in an asymmetric unit cell. The unit cell is composed of a single bright resonator and several dark resonators made in the form of rectangular metal patches. The manifestation of EIT is studied for different metasurface configurations by varying the number and positions of resonators used within the unit cell. To validate the slow-down effect caused by EIT, a prototype of the metasurface is fabricated and tested, providing a measurement of the group delay and bandwidth-delay product features. The obtained results clearly confirm the presence of four EIT-like transparency windows in the metasurface transmission spectra originating from the coupling between either quasi-TE or quasi-TM modes of the resonators.