Room-Temperature Mid-Infrared Detection Using Metasurface-Absorber-Integrated Phononic Crystal Oscillator

Mid-infrared (MIR) detectors find extensive applications in chemical sensing, spectroscopy, communications, biomedical diagnosis, and space exploration. Alternative to semiconductor MIR photodiodes and bolometers, mechanical-resonator-based MIR detectors show advantages in higher sensitivity and lower noise at room temperature, especially toward longer wavelength infrared. Here, 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 are demonstrated. 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. The 1-GHz oscillator-based MIR detector shows a relative frequency deviation of 5.24 × 10⁻¹⁰ Hz^−1/2 at an integration time of 50 µs, leading to an incident noise equivalent power of 197 pW Hz^−1/2 when input 6-µm MIR light is modulated at 1.8 kHz, and a large dynamic range of 10⁷ in incident MIR power. The 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.