Abstract-Active terahertz quantum-cascade composite right/left-handed metamaterial

http://apl.aip.org/resource/1/applab/v102/i2/p021103_s1?isAuthorized=no

Amir A. Tavallaee^1,2, Philip W. C. Hon¹, Qi-Sheng Chen³, Tatsuo Itoh¹, and Benjamin S. Williams^1,2

¹Electrical Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
²California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
³Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, California 90278, USA 

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(Received 31 October 2012; accepted 19 December 2012; published online 14 January 2013)

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We report the demonstration of a composite right/left-handed (CRLH) metamaterial waveguide for terahertz quantum-cascade (QC) lasers. By incorporating gap capacitors (∼ 250 nm) in the top metallization of a metal-metal waveguide operating in a higher order lateral mode, we have realized a CRLH transmission line that supports traveling modes with negative effective phase indices (i.e., left-handed or backward-wave propagation). The CRLH metamaterial waveguide is employed as an active leaky-wave antenna for a terahertz QC-laser. Directional single-lobed beams launched in the backwards direction at angles of −4° and −63° were experimentally observed at excitation frequencies 2.59 and 2.48 THz, respectively.