Photoexcited broadband blueshift tunable perfect terahertz metamaterial absorber

•A tunable metamaterial absorber is demonstrated at THz frequencies.•The optical response of sillicon can be changed through a pump beam.•The working frequency can be shifted from 0.68 to 1.41 THz.•The absorber is determined by the electrical and magnetic response.

We present an demonstration of optically tunable metamaterial absorber at terahertz frequencies. The metamaterials are based on two split ring resonators (SSRs) that can be tuned by integrating photoconductive silicon into the metamaterial unit cell. Filing the gap between the resonator arm with a semiconductor (silicon), leads to easy modification of its optical response through a pump beam which changes conductivity of Si. The conductivity of silicon is a function of incident pump power. Therefore, the conductivity of silicon is tuned effectively by applying an external pump power. We demonstrate that a blueshift of the resonance frequency under illumination can be accomplished and a broadband switch of absorption frequencies varying from 0.68 to 1.41 THz, with a tuning range of 51.8%. The realization of broadband blueshift tunable metamaterial absorber offers opportunities for achieving switchable metamaterial absorber and could be implemented in terahertz devices to achieve additional functionalities.