THz artificial dielectric lens

Abstract

We have designed, fabricated, and experimentally characterized a lens for the THz regime based on artificial dielectrics. The artificial-dielectric medium is made up of a stack of 100 μm thick metal plates that form an array of parallel-plate waveguides. The convergent lens has a plano-concave geometry, in contrast to conventional dielectric lenses. The lens is capable of focusing a 2 cm diameter beam to a spot size of 4 mm, at the design frequency of 0.17 THz. The overall power transmission of the lens is better than certain conventional lenses commonly used in the THz regime.