Sapphire Photonic Crystal Waveguides for Terahertz Sensing in Aggressive Environments

Terahertz (THz) frequency range opens significant opportunities in various fundamental and applied fields including condensed matter physics and chemistry, biology and medicine, public security and nondestructive testing. Despite significant advances in THz instrumentation, the problem of THz sensing in harsh environments, particularly at high temperatures and pressures, remains acute due to the lack of THz materials and optical components capable for operation under the extreme conditions. To address this problem, the THz hollow-core photonic crystal sapphire waveguides that are fabricated using shaped crystal growth technique are developed. Numerical analysis and experimental study show that the proposed waveguides operate in a few-mode regime and allow for the broadband transmission of THz pulses with small dispersions and low propagation losses. Thanks to the unique physical properties of sapphire, the proposed waveguides are capable of operating in a variety of aggressive environments. As an example, the developed waveguides are used to conduct the intra-waveguide interferometric sensing of phase transitions in sodium nitrite films at high temperatures. It is believed that the proposed sapphire-based material's platform has strong potential for developing THz guided optics for applications in intra-waveguide spectroscopy, interferometry, and remote sensing in aggressive environments.