Abstract
We describe a traveling wave terahertz (0.75-1.1 THz) amplifier that uses a meandering TE <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">01</sub> waveguide coupled to a plasma beam and discuss its design, microfabrication, and cold/hot tests. Motivations for using plasmas instead of electron beams are: 1) thermionic emission required in e-beam generation can be replaced with gas ionization, 2) electrostatic lenses and magnetic focusing structures can be eliminated or reduced in complexity since plasmas can be self-focusing, 3) larger acceleration fields can be used by taking advantage of plasmas' space-charge electric fields of ~10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</sup> -10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sup> V/cm, 4) the plasma pressure can be lowered to yield an electron beam in the limit when the devices' critical dimensions are smaller than the electron mean-free path, and, hence, 5) higher power amplifications at higher efficiency can be achieved. Cold tests showed that a dielectric coating (50-nm Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> ) of the gold-coated meandering silicon waveguide improved the maximum terahertz transmission (S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">21</sub> ) from -20 to -15 dB. Hot tests showed 12-dB gain at a center frequency of ~0.9 THz over a 1-GHz bandwidth.
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