Control of enhanced THz transmission through metallic hole arrays using nematic liquid crystal

We demonstrate frequency tuning of enhanced THz radiation transmitted through a two- dimensional metallic hole array ( 2D- MHA) by controlling the index of refraction of the medium filling the holes and adjacent to the 2D- MHA on one side. The medium is a nematic liquid crystal ( NLC) and its index of refraction is varied using magnetically controlled birefringence of the NLC. With the NLC, the peak transmission frequency of the 2D- MHA shift to the red by 0.112 THz and can be tuned from 0.193 to 0.188 THz. The peak transmittance is as high as 70% or an enhancement of 2.42 times, considering the porosity of the 2D- MHA. As a tunable THz filter, this device exhibits a continuous tuning range of 4.7 GHz, a low insertion loss of 2.35 to 1.55 dB and a quality factor of similar to 4- 5. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.