Investigation of Terahertz Wave Propagation Along Parallel-Plate Dielectric Waveguide using Various Metal Conductivity Models

Abstract

In this paper, an investigation of parallel-plate dielectric waveguide is proposed by theoretical calculation at terahertz frequencies. In the previous study, the electromagnetic analysis of waveguide employed simplified intrinsic frequency dispersion models — classical skin-effect model for the bulk conductivity of normal metals used in terahertz wave structures. To analyze the deviation between various metal conductivity models, the accurate classical relaxation-effect frequency dispersion model and the traditional and much simpler classical skin-effect model are used to analyze the propagation characteristic of the proposed waveguide. The propagation loss with different conductivity models has been obtained by numerically solving the complex eigenvalue equation for the propagation constant. The energy coupling characteristic of this waveguide is also proposed. The conductor loss deviation between the classical relaxation-effect model and the classical skin-effect model varies from 1.1% to 6.4%, and the total loss varies from 1.1% to 5.4% at 0.1–1 THz. The analysis results are very useful for the development of terahertz power propagation, spectroscopy and detectors.