Tunable electromagnetically induced transparency and polarization frequency switches in photosensitive silicon-VO2-graphene metamaterial

• Tri-material THz metamaterial (graphene/silicon/VO) enables multifunctional control. • Tunable EIT with 90.7 % amplitude modulation and 1.53 ps slow light. • Polarization-selective switching at 1.14–1.85 THz with 92% modulation depth. • Bright-bright mode EIT demonstrated, bypassing dark-mode requirements. This work presents a hybrid metamaterial platform integrating graphene, photosensitive silicon, and vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) to achieve dynamically tunable electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and polarization-selective frequency switching in the terahertz (THz) regime. The unit cell comprises a graphene cruciform (GC) resonator and four quarter graphene rings resonator (QGRs), enabling precise control of the EIT window’s amplitude and frequency through Fermi level modulation. The EIT effect exhibits robust angular insensitivity (<70°), with a frequency modulation depth of 0.176 and amplitude modulation depth of 0.907. Leveraging the light-driven conductivity of photosensitive silicon and the insulator-to-metal phase transition of VO 2 , the structure dynamically switches between slow-light states and enables single-/dual-frequency polarization-selective transmission at 1.26 THz, 1.85 THz, and 1.14/1.79 THz, achieving a modulation depth up to 92 %. This tri-material synergy overcomes the rigidity of conventional single-component systems, offering a reconfigurable framework for THz communication and sensing devices.