The terahertz (THz) region occupies a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, located between the microwave and optical frequencies and normally is defined as the band ranging from 0.1 to 10 THz. In recent years, this intermediate THz radiation band has attracted considerable interest, because it offers significant scientific and technological potential for applications in many fields, such as sensing [1], imaging [2] and spectroscopy [3]. However, waveguiding in this intermediate spectral region is a major challenge and strong dielectric and conductive losses in the terahertz frequency range have been a major problem for waveguiding. The conventional guiding structures exemplified by microstrips, coplanar striplines and coplanar waveguides [4] are highly lossy and dispersive. However, so far the most promising dielectric waveguides have been the use of photonic crystal fibers at terahertz frequencies [5, 6] and metal coated guides [7] at terahertz frequencies. In this paper, various types of practical dielectric and metal coated waveguides are evaluated and design optimization of Quantum Cascade Lasers, MMI-based power splitters and narrow-band filters are presented, by using full-vectorial finite element method [8].

Date Published: 27 March 2013
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 8624, Terahertz, RF, Millimeter, and Submillimeter-Wave Technology and Applications VI, 862414 (27 March 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2008201

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8624:
Terahertz, RF, Millimeter, and Submillimeter-Wave Technology and Applications VI
Laurence P. Sadwick; Créidhe M. O'Sullivan, Editor(s)