Dynamic terahertz transmission based on coupling reconfiguration of spoof surface plasmon polaritons

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a dynamic transmission structure based on the coupling reconfiguration of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) in a 2D coplanar grating. By embedding a VO2 film into the signal line, the dynamic transmission is realized by reconfiguring the coupling of terahertz waves from quasi-TEM waves to SSPPs. The analysis shows that the transmission can be modulated in almost the entire band of the SSPPs, which further benefits a promising group delay due to the weak dispersion characteristic in the frequency region much lower than the cut-off frequency of SSPPs. In addition, for the dynamic modulation caused by the coupling reconfiguration, only rather a small area of VO2 film is needed to break the robustness of the 2D coplanar grating. Therefore, the coupling reconfiguration mechanism proposed in this paper facilitates the realization of an easily on-chip integrated dynamic SSPPs transmission structure with ultra-large bandwidth, and low group delay time difference. Accordingly, the presented mechanism will play a positive role in promoting the development of terahertz dynamic devices.