Nanowire Terahertz detectors with a resonant four-leaf-clover-shaped antenna

We report on the development of an innovative class of nanowire-based Terahertz (THz) detectors in which the metamaterial properties of an antenna have been imported in the detection scheme of an overdamped plasma-wave field-effect transistor making its response resonant to THz radiation. Responsivities of ~105 V/W at 0.3THz, with noise equivalent power levels 10-10W/vHz, detectivities 2.108cmvHz/W and quantum efficiencies 1.2.10-5 are reached at room-temperature. The resonant nature of the detection scheme provided by the four-leaf-clover-shaped geometry and the possibility to extend this technology to large multi-pixel arrays opens the path to demanding applications for ultra-sensitive metrology, spectroscopy and biomedicine. © 2014 Optical Society of America.