Subwavelength metallic waveguides as a tool for extreme confinement of THz surface waves

• DOI: 10.1038/srep01369
• Publication Date: 2013-03-06T10:12:12Z
• Authors: D. Gacemi; J. Mangeney; R. Colombelli; A. Degiron
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; Article

Research on surface waves supported by metals at THz frequencies is experiencing a tremendous growth due to their potential for imaging, biological sensing and high-speed electronic circuits. Harnessing properties is, however, challenging because these are typically poorly confined weakly bound the metal surface. Many design strategies have been introduced overcome limitations achieve increased modal confinement, including patterned surfaces, coated waveguides variety of sub-wavelength geometries. Here we provide evidence, using combination numerical simulations time-resolved experiments, that shrinking transverse size generic metallic structure always leads solutions with extreme field confinement. The existence such general behavior offers new perspective energy confinement should benefit future developments in science technology.