Twist-engineered acoustic plasmon nanocavities enable deep-nanoscale terahertz molecular fingerprinting

1.
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, School of Optical-Electric and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
2.
Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China
3.
Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100094, China
4.
Shanghai Institute of Intelligent Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201210, China

Funds: S. Chen acknowledges support of the refractive index of GABA molecules from Dr. Bingwei Liu, Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.

摘要

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Abstract: Field-enhanced terahertz spectroscopy serves as a powerful analytical tool for biochemical sensing, materials characterization, and medical diagnostics, where detection sensitivity fundamentally depends on electric field enhancement and confinement. However, the severe scale mismatch between long terahertz wavelengths (on the order of 100 \(\upmu\) m) and nanoscale analytes (typically < 10 nm) imposes critical limitations on conventional far-field techniques. Here, we present a breakthrough sensing approach utilizing twisted double-layer graphene plasmonic metasurfaces (t-DL-GPMs) with nanometric dielectric spacers. Our investigations reveal that these t-DL-GPMs support strongly confined acoustic plasmon nanocavity modes featuring extraordinary field enhancement and deep subwavelength field concentration, along with an extremely small mode volume (10⁻¹³λ₀³). Compared to single-layer and untwisted double-layer graphene configurations, the twisted architecture demonstrates dramatically improved sensing performance, with figures of merit enhanced by factors of 22 and 48, respectively. Most significantly, the platform enables clear identification of terahertz vibrational fingerprints from molecular layers as thin as 1 nm. This work not only opens novel avenues for nanoscale terahertz detection, pushing the THz sensing into unprecedented deep-nano level, but also establishes a versatile foundation for exploring extreme light-matter interactions and developing advanced terahertz photonic devices.

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doi: 10.1186/s43074-025-00194-3

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Twist-engineered acoustic plasmon nanocavities enable deep-nanoscale terahertz molecular fingerprinting

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doi: 10.1186/s43074-025-00194-3

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Twist-engineered acoustic plasmon nanocavities enable deep-nanoscale terahertz molecular fingerprinting

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