Specialty Fibers for Terahertz Generation and Transmission: A Review

TL;DR

This review paper discusses recent advances in using specialty optical fibers for generating and transmitting terahertz waves, highlighting different sources, fiber designs, and wave guiding techniques to enhance THz applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of optical fiber-based methods for THz generation and transmission, emphasizing new fiber designs and guiding schemes.

Findings

Various types of THz sources are analyzed.

New fiber designs improve THz transmission.

Guided wave propagation techniques are reviewed.

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) frequency range, lying between the optical and microwave range covers a significant portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum. Though its initial usage started in the 1960s, active research in the THz field started only in the 1990s by researchers from both optics and microwaves disciplines. The use of optical fibers for THz application has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this article, we review the progress and current status of optical fiber-based techniques for THz generation and transmission. The first part of this review focuses on THz sources. After a review on various types of THz sources, we discuss how specialty optical fibers can be used for THz generation. The second part of this review focuses on the guided wave propagation of THz waves for their transmission. After discussing various wave guiding schemes, we consider new fiber designs for THz transmission.