Self-polarizing terahertz liquid crystal phase shifter

Using sub-wavelength metallic gratings as both transparent electrodes and broadband high-efficiency polarizers, a highly-compact self-polarizing phase shifter is demonstrated by electrically tuning the effective birefringence of a nematic liquid crystal cell. The metal grating polarizers ensure a good polarizing efficiency in the range of 0.2 to 2 THz. Phase shift of more than pi/3 is achieved in a 256 mu m-thick cell with a saturation root mean square voltage of around 130 V in this integrated device. Copyright 2011 Author(s). This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. [doi:10.1063/1.3626560]