Engineering of high quality factor THz metasurfaces by femtosecond laser ablation

We report on the realization of high Q metasurfaces operating in the THz frequency range by femtosecond laser ablation applied to a nanometric metallic layer over a silicon substrate. Two different fabrication methods are used to develop periodic patterns whose basic elements are in form of an array of through-holes or metallic islands. The response of the resulting structures is characterized using a time-domain spectrometer in the frequency range 0.3–1.5 THz. The experimental findings are compared with the predictions of full wave electromagnetic simulations. The fairly good agreement between simulation predictions and experimental findings evidences that the proposed approach can offer a facile way to the elaboration of THz metasurfaces.