Terahertz multi-metal-wire hybrid-cladding hollow waveguide for refractive index sensing

We propose a design of terahertz refractive index sensing based on the multi-metal-wire(MMW) hybrid-cladding hollow waveguide. The proposed terahertz hybrid-cladding hollow waveguide comprises one air core in the center surrounding MMW surrounded dielectric. The central air core is used for filling lossless measurands and transmitting terahertz light. In particular, the refractive index sensing is realized by measuring the mode field area(MFA) variation of radially polarized mode. The modal effective refractive index, mode field intensity distribution, and mode field area properties responding to the measurand refractive indexes for different operating frequencies and structure dimensions are investigated, respectively.Simulations show that the proposed terahertz refractive index sensor can realize easily the measurement of the measurand refractive index. Meanwhile, the effects of operating frequency and structure parameters on sensitivity and measurement accuracy are also studied. In view of the trade-off between sensitivity and measurement accuracy, the reasonable choice of the operating frequency and structure parameters can optimize appropriately the sensitivity and measurement accuracy, and the sensitivity can reach approximately 0.585 mm~2/RIU(RIU is short for refraction index units) with the proper frequency and structure parameter.