Metal wires for terahertz wave guiding

Kanglin Wang and Daniel M. Mittleman ()
Additional contact information
Kanglin Wang: Rice University
Daniel M. Mittleman: Rice University

Nature, 2004, vol. 432, issue 7015, 376-379

Abstract: Abstract Sources and systems for far-infrared or terahertz (1 THz = 1012 Hz) radiation have received extensive attention in recent years, with applications in sensing, imaging and spectroscopy1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Terahertz radiation bridges the gap between the microwave and optical regimes, and offers significant scientific and technological potential in many fields. However, waveguiding in this intermediate spectral region still remains a challenge. Neither conventional metal waveguides for microwave radiation, nor dielectric fibres for visible and near-infrared radiation can be used to guide terahertz waves over a long distance, owing to the high loss from the finite conductivity of metals or the high absorption coefficient of dielectric materials in this spectral range. Furthermore, the extensive use of broadband pulses in the terahertz regime imposes an additional constraint of low dispersion, which is necessary for compatibility with spectroscopic applications. Here we show how a simple waveguide, namely a bare metal wire, can be used to transport terahertz pulses with virtually no dispersion, low attenuation, and with remarkable structural simplicity. As an example of this new waveguiding structure, we demonstrate an endoscope for terahertz pulses.

Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03040 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:432:y:2004:i:7015:d:10.1038_nature03040

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature03040

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().