Terahertz metal nanofilm waveguides

A metal nanofilm waveguide for guiding terahertz (THz) wave is presented. We study the propagation characteristics of the symmetrical and unsymmetrical nanofilm waveguides theoretically. The results show that the symmetrical waveguide can transport terahertz wave with the loss of below 6×10-5 m-1 in the whole range of 0.1~3 THz. The loss of the unsymmetrical waveguide is much higher (below 0.21 m-1). The dispersions of both the two waveguides versus the frequency are very low. The propagation characteristics versus film thickness are also studied. We expect this waveguide to open the way for a new class of THz applications.