Room-temperature mid-infrared detection using metasurface-absorber-integrated phononic crystal oscillator (2503.12259v1)

Abstract: Mid-infrared (MIR) detectors find extensive applications in chemical sensing, spectroscopy, communications, biomedical diagnosis and space explorations. Alternative to semiconductor MIR photodiodes and bolometers, mechanical-resonator-based MIR detectors show advantages in higher sensitivity and lower noise at room temperature, especially towards longer wavelength infrared. Here, we demonstrate uncooled room-temperature MIR detectors based on lithium niobate surface acoustic wave phononic crystal (PnC) resonators integrated with wavelength-and-polarization-selective metasurface absorber arrays. The detection is based on the resonant frequency shift induced by the local temperature change due to MIR absorptions. The PnC resonator is configured in an oscillating mode, enabling active readout and low frequency noise. Compared with detectors based on tethered thin-film mechanical resonators, our non-suspended, fully supported PnC resonators offer lower noise, faster thermal response, and robustness in both fabrication and practical applications. Our oscillator-based MIR detector shows a relative frequency noise of $5.47 \times 10^{-12}$ $\mathrm{Hz^{-1/2}}$ at its oscillation frequency of 1 GHz, leading to an incident noise equivalent power of 40 $\mathrm{pW/{\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}}}$ for a MIR at 6 ${\mu}$m wavelength, a response time constant of 169 $\mu$s, and a large dynamic range of $10^8$ in incident MIR power. Our device architecture is compatible with the scalable manufacturing process and can be readily extended to a broader spectral range by tailoring the absorbing wavelengths of metasurface absorbers.