Mode matching of terahertz radiation to cylindrical wire waveguides using radially symmetric photoconductive antennas

Wire waveguides have recently been shown to be valuable for transporting pulsed terahertz radiation. A radially polarized surface wave is excited when a linearly polarized terahertz pulse is focused on the gap between the wire waveguide and another metal structure. We calculate the input coupling efficiency using a simulation based on the finite element method (FEM). Additional FEM results indicate that enhanced coupling efficiency can be achieved through the use of a radially symmetric photoconductive antenna. Experimental results confirm that such an antenna can generate terahertz radiation which couples to the radial waveguide mode with greatly improved efficiency.