Abstract-Ultra-wide band reflective metamaterial wave plates for terahertz waves

Shaojie Ma1, Xinke Wang2, Weijie Luo1, Shulin Sun3, Yan Zhang2, Qiong He1,4 and Lei Zhou1,4

Published 31 March 2017 • Copyright © EPLA, 2017 

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1209/0295-5075/117/37007/meta

Terahertz (THz) electromagnetic waves have important applications in science and technology but available functional devices suffer from the issues of bulky size, low efficiency and narrow bandwidth. Here, based on Jones matrix and Poincaré sphere analyses, we present a set of general criterions to help design high-efficiency ultra-wide band THz wave plates using ultra-thin reflective metamaterials. Two half-wavelength and one quarter-wavelength THz wave plates are designed and fabricated based on the general criterions, and their excellent polarization manipulation capabilities are demonstrated experimentally. In particular, the realized devices, with thicknesses ~ λ/7, exhibit polarization-conversion efficiencies higher than 80% in ultra-wide working bandwidths (relative bandwidth >80% at about ~ 0.7 THz).