Enhanced terahertz sensing with a coupled comb-shaped spoof surface plasmon waveguide

A comb-shaped waveguide based on the excitation of coupled spoof surface plasmon (CSSP) mode is investigated, and is found to have a pronounced effect for the enhancement of fingerprint detection sensitivity in the terahertz (THz) regime. Composed of two oppositely oriented metal stripes with single-side comb-shaped corrugations, the waveguide is formed due to the coupling of SSP modes supported by metal corrugations on both sides and the mode is tightly localized between the central gap, which provides a perfect site for accommodating the samples in THz sensing. The effective detection of thin-layer lactose is given as an example to demonstrate the sensitive detection of it at a thickness of only a few microns. A transmission spectrum through the waveguide with a pronounced dip at its characteristic absorption frequency of 0.529THz is shown, which can never be observed using the transmission through a lactose layer with the same thickness. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America