Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3J 2X4, Canada.
Institute of Photonics, Faculty of Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
Sci Rep. 2016 Dec 7;6:38784. doi: 10.1038/srep38784.
Seeking better surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguides is of critical importance to construct the frequency-agile terahertz (THz) front-end circuits. We propose and investigate here a new class of semiconductor-based slot plasmonic waveguides for subwavelength THz transport. Optimizations of the key geometrical parameters demonstrate its better guiding properties for simultaneous realization of long propagation lengths (up to several millimeters) and ultra-tight mode confinement (~λ/530) in the THz spectral range. The feasibility of the waveguide for compact THz components is also studied to lay the foundations for its practical implementations. Importantly, the waveguide is compatible with the current complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technique. We believe the proposed waveguide configuration could offer a potential for developing a CMOS plasmonic platform and can be designed into various components for future integrated THz circuits (ITCs).
寻求更好的表面等离激元（SPP）波导对于构建频率灵活的太赫兹（THz）前端电路至关重要。我们在这里提出并研究了一类新的基于半导体的槽型等离子体波导，用于亚波长 THz 传输。对关键几何参数的优化表明，该波导在太赫兹光谱范围内具有更好的导波性能，可同时实现长传播长度（长达数毫米）和超紧密模式限制（~λ/530）。还研究了该波导用于紧凑太赫兹元件的可行性，为其实际应用奠定了基础。重要的是，该波导与当前的互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）制造技术兼容。我们相信，所提出的波导结构可为开发 CMOS 等离子体平台提供潜力，并可设计成各种组件，用于未来的集成太赫兹电路（ITCs）。
