Flexible terahertz devices are becoming increasingly vital for wearable photonics, intelligent communication, and flexible sensing systems. However, practical applications often involve bending deformation, which can degrade performance or cause signal loss. Now, researchers have developed a flexible terahertz modulator using tellurium (Te) nanofilms on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates that maintains high performance even under mechanical stress. The work, published in Light: Advanced Manufacturing, demonstrates a modulation depth of 50% on a picosecond timescale, low insertion loss, and robust bending tolerance, offering a new pathway for intelligent terahertz optoelectronics.
The device leverages the unique properties of tellurium, including its helical chain structure, high carrier mobility, and ambient stability. When integrated with flexible PET, the Te films form a mechanically robust and optically active platform. The researchers, led by Professor Qingli Zhou from Capital Normal University and Professor Chen Ge from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, achieved broadband terahertz modulation with an ultrasensitive response to low pump excitation. This combination of speed and efficiency is critical for next-generation wireless communication and imaging systems.
To assess mechanical durability, the team subjected the device to repeated bending cycles and small bending radii. The transient terahertz photoresponse remained nearly unchanged, indicating excellent mechanical tolerance. This stability is attributed to the inherent flexibility of Te nanofilms and the PET substrate, which preserve the device's functionality during deformation. Such robustness is essential for wearable devices and other applications where flexibility is a primary requirement.
Beyond basic modulation, the researchers explored the device's potential in intelligent information processing. By feeding the measured terahertz modulation responses into an artificial neural network (ANN), they achieved stable image recognition accuracy under various bending conditions. This result demonstrates that the mechanical robustness of the Te/PET modulator can be translated into reliable computational performance, suggesting its use as a front-end functional unit in intelligent sensing and neuromorphic optoelectronic systems.
The scientists highlighted the significance of their work, stating that the device offers a mechanically robust platform for ultrafast all-optical terahertz modulation, with stable performance under deformation. They also noted that the stable terahertz response under different mechanical states enables reliable neural-network-based image recognition, pointing to the potential of Te-based flexible devices in intelligent sensing and wearable optoelectronics. The team further emphasized that their results provide a new device strategy for flexible terahertz modulators, offering guidance for developing mechanically robust terahertz optoelectronic devices that operate in complex deformation environments.
This research was supported by several funding sources, including the National Key R&D Program of China, the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of CPSF, and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation. The study was published with DOI 10.37188/lam.2026.086. For more details, see the original source at https://doi.org/10.37188/lam.2026.086.
