High-volume rapid prototyping technique for terahertz metallic metasurfaces

Abstract

Terahertz technology has greatly benefited from the recent development and generalization of prototyping technologies such as 3D printing and laser machining. These techniques can be used to rapidly fabricate optical devices for applications in sensing, imaging and communications. In this paper, we introduce hot stamping, a simple inexpensive and rapid technique to form 2D metallic patterns that are suitable for many terahertz devices. We fabricate several example devices to illustrate the versatility of the technique, including metasurfaces made of arrays of split-ring resonators with resonances up to 550 GHz. We also fabricate a wire-grid polarizer for use as a polarizing beam splitter. The simplicity and low cost of this technique can help in rapid prototyping and realization of future terahertz devices.