Quasi-optical terahertz polarizers enabled by inkjet printing of carbon nanocomposites

We report an approach for cost-effective manufacturing of THz quasi-optical polarizers by inkjet printing of polymer-carbon nanowhisker (CNW) dispersions. The electromagnetic interference properties of coatings with fixed CNW/polymer composition and varying thickness are quantified by a frequency domain THz spectroscopy system in the range 570-630 GHz. A shielding effectiveness of similar to 40 dB is attained for 70 mu m-thick coatings. A prototype THz polarizer printed on Mylar film displayed transmission and absorbance that varied with polarization orientation. The degree of polarization for film thickness of similar to 1 mu m was 0.35. This performance can be improved by refining grid dimensions, increasing coating thickness and adopting multi-layer polarizer structures. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4770368]