Quantitative study of rectangular waveguide behavior in the THz.

Rowen, Adam M. ; Nordquist, Christopher Daniel ; Wanke, Michael Clement

Sandia National Laboratories

关键词: Dielectric Materials;    Waveguides;    Absorption;    36 Materials Science;    Mixers;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1001001
RP-ID  :  SAND2009-7168
RP-ID  :  AC04-94AL85000
RP-ID  :  1001001

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This report describes our efforts to quantify the behavior of micro-fabricated THz rectangular waveguides on a configurable, robust semiconductor-based platform. These waveguides are an enabling technology for coupling THz radiation directly from or to lasers, mixers, detectors, antennas, and other devices. Traditional waveguides fabricated on semiconductor platforms such as dielectric guides in the infrared or co-planar waveguides in the microwave regions, suffer high absorption and radiative losses in the THz. The former leads to very short propagation lengths, while the latter will lead to unwanted radiation modes and/or crosstalk in integrated devices. This project exploited the initial developments of THz micro-machined rectangular waveguides developed under the THz Grand Challenge Program, but instead of focusing on THz transceiver integration, this project focused on exploring the propagation loss and far-field radiation patterns of the waveguides. During the 9 month duration of this project we were able to reproduce the waveguide loss per unit of length in the waveguides and started to explore how the loss depended on wavelength. We also explored the far-field beam patterns emitted by H-plane horn antennas attached to the waveguides. In the process we learned that the method of measuring the beam patterns has a significant impact on what is actually measured, and this may have an effect on most of the beam patterns of THz that have been reported to date. The beam pattern measurements improved significantly throughout the project, but more refinements of the measurement are required before a definitive determination of the beam-pattern can be made.