• 文献标题:   Broadband tunable liquid crystal terahertz waveplates driven with porous graphene electrodes
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   WANG L, LIN XW, HU W, SHAO GH, CHEN P, LIANG LJ, JIN BB, WU PH, QIAN H, LU YN, LIANG X, ZHENG ZG, LU YQ
  • 作者关键词:   liquid crystal, porous graphene, terahertz, waveplate
  • 出版物名称:   LIGHTSCIENCE APPLICATIONS
  • ISSN:   2047-7538
  • 通讯作者地址:   Nanjing Univ
  • 被引频次:   85
  • DOI:   10.1038/lsa.2015.26
  • 出版年:   2015

▎ 摘  要

Versatile devices, especially tunable ones, for terahertz imaging, sensing and high-speed communication, are in high demand. Liquid crystal based components are perfect candidates in the optical range; however, they encounter significant challenges in the terahertz band, particularly the lack of highly transparent electrodes and the drawbacks induced by a thick cell. Here, a strategy to overcome all these challenges is proposed: Few-layer porous graphene is employed as an electrode with a transmittance of more than 98%. A subwavelength metal wire grid is utilized as an integrated high-efficiency electrode and polarizer. The homogeneous alignment of a high-birefringence liquid crystal is implemented on both frail electrodes via a non-contact photo-alignment technique. A tunable terahertz waveplate is thus obtained. Its polarization evolution is directly demonstrated. Furthermore, quarter-wave plates that are electrically controllable over the entire testing range are achieved by stacking two cells. The proposed solution may pave a simple and bright road toward the development of various liquid crystal terahertz apparatuses.