Comparison of birefringent electric split-ring resonator and meanderline structures as quarter-wave plates at terahertz frequencies

We have fabricated a quarter-wave plate from a single layer of birefringent electric split-ring resonators (ELC). For comparison, an appropriately scaled double layer meanderline structure was fabricated. At the design frequency of 639 GHz, the ELC structure achieves 99.9% circular polarization whil...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics express 2009-01, Vol.17 (1), p.136-149
Main Authors: Strikwerda, Andrew C, Fan, Kebin, Tao, Hu, Pilon, Daniel V, Zhang, Xin, Averitt, Richard D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
Birefringence
Crystallization
Electricity
Electromagnetic Fields
Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy
Equipment Design
Materials Testing - instrumentation
Materials Testing - methods
Microscopy
Radiation
Semiconductors
Spectrophotometry, Infrared
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Summary:We have fabricated a quarter-wave plate from a single layer of birefringent electric split-ring resonators (ELC). For comparison, an appropriately scaled double layer meanderline structure was fabricated. At the design frequency of 639 GHz, the ELC structure achieves 99.9% circular polarization while the meanderline achieves 99.6%. The me-anderline displays a larger bandwidth of operation, attaining over 99% circular polarization from 615 - 743 GHz, while the ELC achieves 99% from 626 - 660 GHz. However, both are broad enough for use with CW sources making ELCs a more attractive choice due to the ease of fabrication. Both samples are free standing with a total thickness of 70 microm for the meanderline structure and a mere 20 microm for the ELC highlighting the large degree of birefringence exhibited with metamaterial structures.
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/oe.17.000136