Proposal for a symmetrical petal core terahertz waveguide for terahertz wave guidance

Countering the terahertz wave applications 'inefficient transmission' calls for rapid development in terahertz waveguides that could simultaneously minimize confinement loss, chromatic dispersion and maximize the fraction of power. Here, a new kind of symmetrical petal hollow core terahertz waveguide based on cyclic olefin homopolymer is proposed to achieve low confinement loss, low chromatic dispersion and a high fraction of power. In this designed waveguide, a symmetrical petal-shaped air hole is treated as the core and circular air holes arranged as sunflower-type are inserted in the cladding. The guiding characteristics of the designed waveguide are simulated and analyzed based on the finite element method with perfectly matched layer boundary condition. Based on the optimum structure parameters, it exhibits a minimum confinement loss of 0.0089 dB cm⁻¹ at 2.58 THz and a < 0.07 dB cm⁻¹ bandwidth spanning across 2.51–2.71 THz. Furthermore, in the same frequency region, the high core power fraction is above 93%, and the group velocity dispersion values are lower than 0.6 ps/THz/cm. (paper)