Tri-band and high FOM THz metamaterial absorber for food/agricultural safety sensing applications

Multi-band based terahertz metamaterial absorber is of great importance in current research and applications because of its ability to achieve multi-band absorption of electromagnetic waves and multi-point matching of detection material information. In this paper, a three-band terahertz metamaterial absorber based on metal split-opening ring is proposed, which produces harp peaks with high Q values due to the resonant response of the metal resonator matched with the surface lattice resonance. By optimizing the structure parameters, the Q-factor is as high as 528 and the FOM value is 153.2, which is better than the FOM of the currently reported absorbers. The sensing performance of absorber as refractive index sensor and thickness sensor is studied, and the results show that it can be used for refractive index sensing and thickness sensing detection of analytes. Finally, five pesticides were simulated and tested. The maximum frequency shift of the absorber was 16ghz when the refractive index changed by 0.02 steps, which proved its ability to recognize different pesticides. The detection of proline solutions of 2–10 g/100 ml proves that the absorber could detect analytes with a refractive index difference of 0.003. These results show that the absorber has high sensitivity, high Q factor, ultra-high FOM, and polarization-insensitive characteristics, which can be used for detecting food/agricultural safety testing and other fields.