An apparatus for light detection includes a light, or photon, detector assembly and a dielectric resonator layer coupled to the detector assembly. The dielectric resonator layer is configured to receive transmission of incident light that is directed into the detector assembly by the dielectric resonator layer. The dielectric resonator layer resonates with a range of wavelengths of the incident light.

The present invention features a novel design for a bolometric infrared detector focused on LWIR range for human body high-resolution temperature sensing. The present invention incorporates an efficient plasmonic absorber and VO.sub.2 nanobeam to facilitate improvement in both aspects—thermal resolution and spatial resolution. The present invention significantly improves the detectivity, NETD, and responsivity for a smaller form-factor detector active area.

Disclosed herein are MEMS devices and systems and methods of manufacturing or operating the MEMS devices and systems for transmitting and detecting radiation. The devices and methods described herein are applicable to terahertz radiation. In some embodiments, the MEMS devices and systems are used in imaging applications. In some embodiments, a microelectromechanical system comprises a glass substrate configured to pass radiation from a first surface of the glass substrate through a second surface of the glass substrate, the glass substrate comprising TFT circuitry; a lid comprising a surface; spacers separating the lid and glass substrate; a cavity defined by the spacers, surface of the lid, and second surface of the glass substrate; a pixel in the cavity, positioned on the second surface of the glass substrate, electrically coupled to the TFT circuitry, and comprising an absorber to detect the radiation; and a reflector to direct the radiation to the absorbers and positioned on the lid.

A detector for detecting terahertz electromagnetic radiation comprises a substrate and a pair of electrically isolated detector elements supported thereon. Each detector element comprises a pair of antenna elements having a gap therebetween and a switch element comprising one or more pieces of photoconductive semiconductor material connected between the antenna elements across the gap. The pairs of antenna elements of the respective detector elements are configured so that, when the switch element is conductive, current is generated between the antenna elements by polarisation components of incident terahertz electromagnetic radiation having polarisation directions in respective sensing directions that are perpendicular, thereby providing simultaneous detection of perpendicular polarisation components of incident terahertz electromagnetic radiation.

The present invention relates to a terahertz biometric imaging package comprising: an image sensor comprising an antenna pixel array arranged to detect terahertz radiation transmitted from an object, for capturing an image, each antenna pixel comprises a power detector including an antenna structure for receiving terahertz radiation, wherein the power detector is configured to convert a detected terahertz radiation to a sensing signal at a lower frequency than the frequency of the terahertz radiation, a package top cover arranged to cover the antenna pixel array, wherein the image sensor is configured to capture a terahertz image of an object located on an opposite side of the package top cover, a package bottom part arranged on the other side of the antenna pixel array opposite from the package top cover, wherein the antenna pixel array is encapsulated between the package top cover and the package bottom part.

A semiconductor element comprising: an antenna array that is provided with a plurality of antennas each including a semiconductor layer having an electromagnetic wave gain or carrier nonlinearity with respect to a terahertz wave; and a coupling line that synchronizes adjacent antennas in the antenna array with each other at a frequency of the terahertz wave, wherein the coupling line includes a plurality of first regions connected to the adjacent antennas respectively and a second region provided between the plurality of first regions, wherein the second region has impedance different from impedance of each of the first regions, and wherein the second region has a loss larger than a loss of the individual first region at a frequency other than a resonance frequency of the antenna array.

A two-dimensional terahertz radiation detector includes a spectral conversion element, an array of microlenses, and a matrix image sensor. Such a detector can be particularly compact, light, and inexpensive. For some embodiments, it can be used to produce multispectral images of an external scene, from terahertz radiation that originates from the scene.

An apparatus is provided for nanoantenna-enhanced detection of infrared radiation. The apparatus includes one or more detector pixels. A plurality of detector pixels can constitute a focal plane array (FPA). Each detector pixel carries at least a first and a second subpattern of nanoantenna elements, with elements of the second subpattern interpolated between elements of the first subpattern. Each detector pixel also includes separate collection electrodes for collecting photogenerated current from the respective subpatterns.

A method and apparatus are provided for generating a thermal image of a target. The method comprises: at one or more electro-magnetic transducers, receiving long wave infra-red (LWIR) radiation emitted from the target; illuminating the electro-magnetic transducers with radiation being transmitted wavelengths that belong to Near Infra-Red (NIR) band and/or that belong to the visible (VIS) band; converting at least part of the radiation received as LWIR radiation to energy at the NIR band and/or at the VIS band; and generating a thermal image based on the energy retrieved after converting at least part of the LWIR radiation received, to energy at the NIR band and/or at the VIS band, and wherein receiving the LWIR radiation and illuminating the electro-magnetic transducers, are carried out simultaneously.

A radiation detection technique employs field enhancing structures and electroluminescent materials to converts incident Terahertz (THz) radiation into visible light and/or infrared light. In this technique, the field-enhancing structures, such as split ring resonators or micro-slits, enhances the electric field of incoming THz light within a local area, where the electroluminescent material is applied. The enhanced electric field then induces the electroluminescent material to emit visible and/or infrared light via electroluminescent process. A detector such as avalanche photodiode can detect and measure the emitted light. This technique allows cost-effective detection of THz radiation at room temperatures.