Being able to see light and detect radiation is of utmost importance at any frequency. While this challenge has been solved in the visible range, radiation detectors in the far-infrared and terahertz regimes are either not sensitive, slow, or require bulky and expensive, often cryogenically cooled devices, which hinders practical applications.

A recent study reported in Advanced Photonics combines quantum physics with a carefully designed metasurface to develop a compact detector that improves how THz radiation is captured and converted into an electrical signal.