propagating THz signals in wires with low losses

Mar 24, 2013 2 Replies

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Jamie M 13 years ago

Hi,

I was wondering about plasmonic THz and higher frequencies, when they propagate in copper the losses are extremely high due to the high accelerations of electrons radiating losses. I saw some new info on using metamaterials to "reduce electrons mass to near zero" using alternate thin layers of material with positive and negative permittivity:

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I was wondering if this is a similar concept to a coax transmission line for RF, in that it prevents losses/radiation until the antenna? If a stripline transmission line is put on a PCB for THz frequencies using the nanometer thick alternate layers from that paper would that work to allow longer THz wires with low losses?

cheers, Jamie

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Jeff Liebermann 13 years ago

I would guess(tm) that it would be an insulator. That's because conductivity is not produced by moving an electron along a conductor at the speed-o-light, but rather by bouncing outer orbit electrons off other electrons, as in a series of billiard balls. With near zero mass, the energy of these electron to electron energy transfers (mv^2) would be near zero, resulting in no conduction.

Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

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whit3rd 13 years ago

Wires with signals are actually carrying the energy in fields outside the wire (in the insulator); high frequency losses have to include that insulator, not just the conductor.

To get to terahertz, one uses a waveguide. The walls of the waveguide just have to be reflectors, not perfect conductors of electricity.

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