Tunable metamaterials based on voltage controlled strong coupling

We present the design, fabrication, and realization of an electrically tunable metamaterial operating in the mid-infrared spectral range. Our devices combine intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum-wells with planar metamaterials and operate in the strong light-matter coupling regime. The resonance frequency of the intersubband transition can be controlled by an external bias relative to the fixed metamaterial resonance. This allows us to switch dynamically from an uncoupled to a strongly coupled system and thereby to shift the eigenfrequency of the upper polariton branch by 2.5 THz (corresponding to 8% of the center frequency or one full linewidth) with a bias of 5 V. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.