Surface plasmon polaritons are electromagnetic surface waves coupled to electron plasma oscillation of metals at a metal-dielectric interface. At optical frequencies, these modes are of great interest because of their high confinement to a metal-dielectric interface. Due to the field enhancement at the interface, they have been used in different applications such as sensors, second harmonic generation and enhanced Raman scattering. Surface plasmon resonance based sensors are being used for detection of molecular adsorption such as DNA and proteins. These sensors are known to be highly sensitive and have successfully become commercialized. Terahertz (THz) frequency band of electromagnetic spectrum has attracted researchers in the last few years mostly because of sensing and imaging applications. Many important chemical and biological molecules have their vibrational and rotational resonance frequencies in the THz range that makes the THz sensing one of the most important applications of THz technology. Considering above mentioned facts, extending the concept of surface plasmon sensors to THz frequencies can result in sensitive sensors. In this work the possibility of this extension has been investigated. After reviewing optical surface plasmon polariton waves and a basic sensor configuration, surface plasmon polariton waves propagating on at metallic and doped semiconductor surfaces have been examined for this purpose. It has been shown that these waves on metallic surfaces are loosely confined to the metal-dielectric interface and doped semiconductors are also too lossy and cannot meet the requirements for sensing applications. Afterwards, it is shown that periodically patterned metallic surfaces can guide surface waves that resemble surface plasmon polariton waves. A periodically patterned metallic surface is used to guide THz surface plasmon polariton-like surface waves and a highly sensitive sensor is proposed based on that. The quasi-optical continuous wave (CW) THz radiation is coupled to this structure using the Otto's attenuated total reflection (ATR) configuration and the sensitivity of the device is discussed. A general scattering parameter based model for prism coupling has been proposed and verified. It is shown that a critical coupling condition can happen by changing the gap size between the prim and periodic surface. Details of fabrication of the periodic structure and experimental setup have also been presented.

In most terahertz (THz) systems, the propagation of THz signals relies on metal or dielectric waveguides which suffer from high conductivity losses caused by the skin effect or dielectric losses resulted from the material absorption. Due to this reason, we propose and demonstrate a simple low-loss air-core tube strucutre for THz waveguiding. The simulation method we utilized is the finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) method with the perfectly matched layers (PMLs). The modal indices and propagation losses of the guided core modes on the THz tube waveguide are successfully obtained. The simulation results show that the guiding mechanism of the hollow tube waveguide is based on the antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) model. We also utilize a Fabry-Perot resonantor model to find out the resonance frequencies of the dielectric layer, which match well with the results of the FDFD method. By varying the core size, it is observed that the propagation losses are reduced when the core size is increased. The propagation losses can be reduced from 10-3 cm-1 (0.0043 dB/cm) to 10-4 cm-1 (4.34¡Ñ10-4 dB/cm). In addition, we can use the thin dielectric layer to provide a broad transmission band with £Gf = 0.13THz. We also propose a novel tube THz waveguide sensor. The influence of the thickness and material of the dielectric layer 2 are investigated. We can observe that the shift of the propagation loss peak is inversely proportional to the thickness of dielectric layer 2, which can be used as a thickness sensor with the sensing sensitivity being 0.125 GHz/£gm. On the other hand, the index of the dielectric layer 2 and the position of the propagation loss peak are in an exponential relationship. These properties of the tube waveguide can be applied in the dielectric-film sensing.

We studied terahertz radiation from InN in our paper. We set up " Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy system" and investigate Terahertz emission from InN. We take our sample(InN) in the rotation stage and we rotate different angle to detect the THz intensity data and wave shape and also the mechanisms of THz wave emitted. We research the influence from different background carrier density, band gap, mobility and structure(Zb-InN, W-InN) of InN to produce Terahertz radiation. Finally, we dicuss the THz amplitude and shape influenced from the internal surface field effect, Photo Dember effect, stacking fault, c-plane and m-plane from InN.

The idea of terahertz-time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is to exploit a single cycle, spectrally broad THz radiation pulse to gain insight into the response of matter. Photoconductive devices and nonlinear crystals are utilized in both the generation as well as the coherent detection of THz radiation. The relatively high cost and the complexity of commonly used titanium-sapphire lasers hinder a more widespread use of pulsed THz systems for commercial applications. Er-doped femtosecond fiber lasers operating at 1.55 μm could offer a viable alternative. In this thesis nonlinear crystals and photoconductive emitters are discussed for excitation in the near infrared (NIR) window of between 800 nm to 1550 nm. The main focus of this thesis is a detailed study of substrate materials for an interdigitated photoconductive antenna. Photoconductive antennas with microstructured electrodes provide high electric acceleration fields at moderate voltages because of small electrode separations. The scalability of these devices allows for large active areas in the mm^2 range, which are sufficient for excitation at large optical powers. In comparison with conventional emitter structures, these antennas have more favourable characteristics regarding THz power, spectral properties, and ease of handling. Depending on the utilized substrate material, photoconductive antennas can then be operated using different excitation wavelengths. By employing substrates with short carrier trapping times these antennas can be operated as THz-detectors. Moreover the design of electrode structures for generating radially and azimuthally polarized THz waves are presented. A second topic deals with the signal analysis and signal interpretation of THz pulses transmitted through several material systems. These experiments show the potential for tomographic and spectroscopic applications. The third part deals with THz emission by frequency mixing in nonlinear organic and inorganic crystals. Hereby the focus is on polaritonic phase matching in GaAs. Furthermore, indications of THz tunability by the excitation wavelength were found by utilizing waveguide structures. However, the observed tuning range is much lower then theoretically predicted. Specific reasons for this are discussed.

Waveguides are desirable components for energy transmission throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. This thesis experimentally examines a thick slot waveguide for THz guiding and field enhancement. The waveguide is machined from planar copper sheets using the novel technique of femtosecond laser micromachining. In-plane photoconductive THz coupling to a thick slot waveguide is demonstrated using Discontinuous Galerkin Time Domain (DGTD) simulation. The results reveal positive implications for broadband low-loss/dispersion transmission lines up to 1.5 THz. / Graduate / 0544 / 0607 / 0756 / levismith3@hotmail.com

This dissertation presents the investigation of thermal radiation from three-dimensional electromagnetic crystals (EMXT), as well as the development of a THz rapid prototyping fabrication technique and its application in THz EMXT components and micro-system fabrication and integration. First, it is proposed that thermal radiation from a 3-D EMXT would be greatly enhanced at the band gap edge frequency due to the redistribution of photon density of states (DOS) within the crystal. A THz thermal radiator could thus be built upon a THz EMXT by utilizing the exceptional emission peak(s) around its band gap frequency. The thermal radiation enhancement effects of various THz EMXT including both silicon and tungsten woodpile structures (WPS) and cubic photonic cavity (CPC) array are explored. The DOS of all three structures are calculated, and their thermal radiation intensities are predicted using Planck's Equation. These calculations show that the DOS of the silicon and tungsten WPS can be enhanced by a factor of 11.8 around 364 GHz and 2.6 around 406 GHz respectively, in comparison to the normal blackbody radiation at same frequencies. An enhancement factor of more than 100 is obtained in calculation from the CPC array. A silicon WPS with a band gap around 200 GHz has been designed and fabricated. Thermal emissivity of the silicon WPS sample is measured with a control blackbody as reference. And enhancements of the emission from the WPS over the control blackbody are observed at several frequencies quite consistent with the theoretical predictions. Second, the practical challenge of THz EMXT component and system fabrication is met by a THz rapid prototyping technique developed by us. Using this technique, the fabrications of several EMXTs with 3D electromagnetic band gaps in the 100-400 GHz range are demonstrated. Characterization of the samples via THz Time-domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) shows very good agreement with simulation, confirming the build accuracy of this prototyping approach. Third, an all-dielectric THz waveguide is designed, fabricated and characterized. The design is based on hollow-core EMXT waveguide, and the fabrication is implemented with the THz prototyping method. Characterization results of the waveguide power loss factor show good consistency with the simulation, and waveguide propagation loss as low as 0.03 dB/mm at 105 GHz is demonstrated. Several design parameters are also varied and their impacts on the waveguide performance investigated theoretically. Finally, a THz EMXT antenna based on expanding the defect radius of the EMXT waveguide to a horn shape is proposed and studied. The boresight directivity and main beam angular width of the optimized EMXT horn antenna is comparable with a copper horn antenna of the same dimensions at low frequencies, and much better than the copper horn at high frequencies. The EMXT antenna has been successfully fabricated via the same THz prototyping, and we believe this is the first time an EMXT antenna of this architecture is fabricated. Far-field measurement of the EMXT antenna radiation pattern is undergoing. Also, in order to integrate planar THz solid-state devices (especially source and detector) and THz samples under test with the potential THz micro-system fabricate-able by the prototyping approach, an EMXT waveguide-to-microstrip line transition structure is designed. The structure uses tapered solid dielectric waveguides on both ends to transit THz energy from the EMXT waveguide defect onto the microstrip line. Simulation of the transition structure in a back-to-back configuration yields about -15 dB insertion loss mainly due to the dielectric material loss. The coupling and radiation loss of the transition structure is estimated to be -2.115 dB. The fabrication and characterization of the transition system is currently underway. With all the above THz components realized in the future, integrated THz micro-systems manufactured by the same prototyping technique will be achieved, with low cost, high quality, self-sufficiency, and great customizability.

This thesis presents both theoretical and experimental investigations of the performance and capabilities of frequency selective surfaces (FSS) applied at THz frequencies. The aim is to explore and extend the use of FSS, traditionally limited to microwave frequencies, towards the THz regime of the spectrum, where interesting applications such as imaging, sensing and communications exist. The contribution of this work lies in three main areas within the scope of THz FSS, namely, performance, prototyping and applications. Unlike microwave FSS where extensive research has been performed to evaluate the performance of different FSS designs, particular problems arise at THz frequencies, significantly, the ohmic losses. While a few notable studies can be found on the issue of ohmic losses, part of this thesis investigates, for the first time, the power dissipation due to the presence of both ohmic and dielectric losses, in relation to the power stored in the vicinity of the FSS, the currents induced in the elements of the array and the array’s terminal impedance. By doing so, a better understanding of the performance of THz FSS has been given in terms of their quality factor, allowing for design guidelines previously unavailable. In order to demonstrate multiband operation experimentally, a novel fabrication process has been designed and developed to manufacture capacitive or dipole-based THz FSS on a dielectric layer. Dry deep-reactive ion etching has been employed in order to avoid the use of wet etching to provide better control of etch characteristics. Various FSS operating around 15THz have been demonstrated experimentally. In addition, THz FSS have been investigated theoretically in the realm of three different applications, namely, multiband operation, sensing capability and reconfigurability. Multiband characteristics using single-screen FSS have been achieved by perturbed dipole FSS exhibiting up to four resonances due to the excitation of even and odd current modes. After studying the near-fields in perturbed FSS, it has been found that this type of FSS represent a very attractive candidate for sensing applications due to the revealed near-field enhancement phenomena related to the excitation of the odd mode, where currents flow in opposite directions. Finally, a novel tunability approach to reach frequency reconfigurability by varying the near-field coupling between two closely spaced layers in a dual-layer configuration has been proposed. A MEMS movable four-arm membrane has been suggested to vary the distance between the two layers mechanically, leading to the frequency tuning effect. This approach has been shown to be particularly suitable for THz frequencies, and has been applied to demonstrate theoretically tunable FSS and other periodic structures, such as artificial magnetic conductors and dielectric gratings.

Photonic generation of ultra-low phase noise and frequency-tunable microwave or millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals has been a topic of interest in the last few years. Advanced photonic techniques, especially the recent advancement in photonic components, have enabled the generation of microwave and mm-wave signals at high frequencies with a large tunable range and ultra-low phase noise. In this thesis, techniques to generate microwave and mm-wave signals in the optical domain are investigated, with an emphasis on system architectures to achieve large frequency tunability and low phase noise. The thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, techniques to generate microwave and mm-wave signals based on microwave frequency multiplication are investigated. Microwave frequency multiplication can be realized in the optical domain based on external modulation using a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), but with limited multiplication factor. Microwave frequency multiplication based on external modulation using two cascaded MZMs to provide a larger multiplication factor has been proposed, but no generalized approach has been developed. In this thesis, a generalized approach to achieving microwave frequency multiplication using two cascaded MZMs is presented. A theoretical analysis leading to the operating conditions to achieve frequency quadrupling, sextupling or octupling is developed. The system performance in terms of phase noise, tunability and stability is investigated. To achieve microwave generation with a frequency multiplication factor (FMF) of 12, a technique based on a joint operation of polarization modulation, four-wave mixing and stimulated-Brillouin-scattering-assisted filtering is also proposed. The generation of a frequency-tunable mm-wave signal from 48 to 132 GHz is demonstrated. The proposed architecture can even potentially boost the FMF up to 24. In the second part, techniques to generate ultra-low phase noise and frequency-tunable microwave and mm-wave signals based on an optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) are studied. The key component in an OEO to achieve low phase noise and large frequency-tunable operation is the microwave bandpass filter. In the thesis, we first develop a microwave photonic filter with an ultra-narrow passband and large tunability based on a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG). Then, an OEO incorporating such a microwave photonic filter is developed. The performance including the tunable range and phase noise is evaluated. To further increase the frequency tunable range, a technique to achieve microwave frequency multiplication in an OEO is proposed. An mm-wave signal with a tunable range more than 40 GHz is demonstrated.

Thesis (M. S.)--Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Member: Citrin, David; Committee Member: Denison, Doug; Committee Member: Ralph, Stephen

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2010. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 8, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-47).