Manifestation of Kinetic Inductance in Terahertz Plasmon Resonances in Thin-Film Cd₃As₂.

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) semimetals have been predicted and demonstrated to have a wide variety of interesting properties associated with their linear energy dispersion. In analogy to two-dimensional (2D) Dirac semimetals, such as graphene, Cd₃As₂ has shown ultrahigh mobility and large Fermi velocity and has been hypothesized to support plasmons at terahertz frequencies. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate synthesis of high-quality large-area Cd₃As₂ thin films through thermal evaporation as well as the experimental realization of plasmonic structures consisting of periodic arrays of Cd₃As₂ stripes. These arrays exhibit sharp resonances at terahertz frequencies with associated quality factors ( Q) as high as ∼3.7 (at 0.82 THz). Such spectrally narrow resonances can be understood on the basis of a long momentum scattering time, which in our films can approach ∼1 ps at room temperature. Moreover, we demonstrate an ultrafast tunable response through excitation of photoinduced carriers in optical pump/terahertz probe experiments. Our results evidence that the intrinsic 3D nature of Cd₃As₂ might provide for a very robust platform for terahertz plasmonic applications. Moreover, the long momentum scattering time as well as large kinetic inductance in Cd₃As₂ also holds enormous potential for the redesign of passive elements such as inductors and hence can have a profound impact in the field of RF integrated circuits.