Flexible terahertz wire grid polarizer with high extinction ratio and low loss

An aluminum-based terahertz (THz) wire grid polarizer is theoretically investigated and experimentally demonstrated on a subwavelength thin flexible and conformal foil of the cyclo-olefin Zeonor polymer. THz time-domain spectroscopy characterization, performed on both flat and curved configurations, reveals a high extinction ratio between 40 and 45 dB in the 0.3-1 THz range and in excess of 30 dB up to 2.5 THz. The insertion losses are lower than 1 dB and are almost exclusively due to moderate Fabry-Perot reflections, which vanish at targeted frequencies. The polarizer can be easily fabricated with low-cost techniques such as roll-to-roll and/or large-area electronics processes and promises to open the way for a new class of flexible and conformal THz devices. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America