Proposal of an electrically controlled terahertz switch based on liquid-crystal-filled dual-metallic grating structures

Abstract

We propose an electrically controlled terahertz switch based on metallic grating–liquid crystal–metallic grating (MG-LC-MG) structures. The switching mechanism is realized by modifying the effective refractive of the LC using different bias electric fields. In our design, the MGs not only support supertransmittance at certain frequencies, but they also act as the electrodes. Simulation results show the proposed structure has the potential to realize an electrically controlled terahertz switch with a high extinction ratio and low insertion loss. A prototype design is also proposed for practical implementation.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

Tunable reflective liquid crystal terahertz waveplates

Lei Wang, Shijun Ge, Wei Hu, Makoto Nakajima, and Yanqing Lu
Opt. Mater. Express 7(6) 2023-2029 (2017)

Optical switch based on the electrically controlled liquid crystal interface

Andrei A. Komar, Alexei L. Tolstik, Elena A. Melnikova, and Alexander A. Muravsky
Appl. Opt. 54(16) 5130-5135 (2015)

Liquid-crystal-filled photonic crystal for terahertz switch and filter

Hui Zhang, Peng Guo, Ping Chen, Shengjiang Chang, and Jinghe Yuan
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 26(1) 101-106 (2009)

Continuously tunable devices based on electrical control of dual-frequency liquid crystal filled photonic bandgap fibers

Lara Scolari, Thomas Tanggaard Alkeskjold, Jesper Riishede, Anders Bjarklev, David Sparre Hermann, Anawati, Martin Dybendal Nielsen, and Paolo Bassi
Opt. Express 13(19) 7483-7496 (2005)

Electrically tunable lens based on a dual-frequency nematic liquid crystal

Oleg Pishnyak, Susumu Sato, and Oleg D. Lavrentovich
Appl. Opt. 45(19) 4576-4582 (2006)