High extinction ratio terahertz wire-grid polarizers with connecting bridges on quartz substrates.

A terahertz (THz) wire-grid polarizer with metallic bridges on a quartz substrate was simulated, fabricated, and tested. The device functions as a wide-band polarizer to incident THz radiation. In addition, the metallic bridges permit the device to function as a transparent electrode when a DC bias is applied to it. Three design variations of the polarizer with bridges and a polarizer without bridges were studied. Results show the devices with bridges have average s-polarization transmittance of less than -3 dB and average extinction ratios of approximately 40 dB across a frequency range of 220-990 GHz and thus are comparable to a polarizer without bridges.