Dielectric rod waveguide as an enabling technology for THz frequencies

A dielectric rod waveguide (DRW) made of high-dielectric-constant material such as sapphire, GaAs or Si has in the past been shown to have low transmission loss and good matching with a rectangular metal waveguide at millimetre wavelengths. Also various passive components have been demonstrated. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a single DRW antenna works well over several rectangular waveguide bands even up to 1 THz. Also first attempts have been made to integrate a photo mixer with a DRW waveguide to produce an effective THz source.