Planar Porous THz Waveguides for Low-Loss Guidance and Sensing Applications

Planar porous dielectric waveguides featuring periodic sequence of deeply subwavelength air/dielectric bi-layers are proposed, fabricated and characterized in view of their potential applications as low-loss waveguides and sensors in the THz spectral range. The waveguide design maximizes the fraction of power guided in the air to reduce waveguide loss due to material absorption, as well as to provide a conveniently accessible microfluidic channels for sensor measurements.