A Mechanical Sensor Using Hybridized Metamolecules

Abstract

Hybridized metamaterials with collective mode resonance are usually applied as sensors. In this paper, we make use of one Mie-based hybridized metamolecule comprising of dielectric meta-atoms and an elastic bonding layer in order to detect the distances and applied forces. The hybridization induced splitting results in two new collective resonance modes, of which the red-shifted mode behaves as the in-phase oscillation of two meta-atoms. Owing to the synergy of the oscillation, the in-phase resonance appears as a deep dip with a relatively high Q-factor and figure of merit (FoM). By exerting an external force, namely by adjusting the thickness of the bonding layer, the coupling strength of the metamolecule is changed. As the coupling strength increases, the first collective mode dip red-shifts increasingly toward lower frequencies. By fitting the relationship of the distance–frequency shift and the force–frequency shift, the metamolecule can be used as a sensor to characterize tiny displacement and a relatively wide range of applied force in civil engineering and biological engineering.