April 3, 2012
Concentrating optical energy into an ultra-small spot beyond the diffraction limit has long been an interesting topic in photonics. For terahertz radiation, this challenge is of particular importance, to meet the growing interest in imaging and spectroscopy of materials with a size below the sub-millimeter scale of the free-space wavelength. One of the most exciting new approaches is to use subwavelength-sized plasmonic waveguides, based on the excitation of localized surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on metallic surfaces. While most of the studies on plasmonic waveguides have been focused in the optical regime, subwavelength plasmonic waveguides in the THz spectral regime have also recently attracted a great deal of attention. Here, we discuss several terahertz waveguide structures in the context of plasmonic waveguiding, and show how this understanding can enable deep subwavelength confinement of broadband terahertz signals.
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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.
