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We investigate bound states in the continuum (BICs) in a planar dielectric waveguide structure consisting of a gold grating on a dielectric layer with a back layer of metal. In this structure, Friedrich-Wintgen (FW) BICs caused by the destructive interference between the radiations from two waveguide modes appear near the anti-crossing point of the dispersion curves. In this study, it is revealed that the branch at which the BIC appears changes according to the polarization of the modes. Based on a temporal coupled mode theory, it is shown that the BIC branch is determined by the sign of the product of the coupling coefficients between the two waveguide modes and external radiation, which is consistent with FW theory. The signs of the coupling coefficients are estimated by the waveguide-mode decomposition of the numerically obtained electric fields and are confirmed to vary depending on the polarization.

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) and exceptional points (EPs) have been the subjects of recent intensive research as they exhibit exotic phenomena that are significant for both fundamental physics and practical applications. We investigated the emergence of the Friedrich-Wintgen (FW) type BIC and the EP in a dielectric waveguide comprising a metal grating, focusing on their dependence on the grating thickness. The BIC emerges at a branch near the anti-crossing formed of the two waveguide modes, for a grating of any thickness. With the grating-thickness change, the anti-crossing gap varies and the branch at which the BIC appears flips. We show that, when the slit is single mode, the BIC appears in the vicinity of the crossing between the two waveguide modes in the empty-lattice (zero slit-width) limit, while the results satisfy the criteria for the branch at which the BIC appears in the previous reports. In addition, we find that the EP appears near the BIC in the same device only on selecting the grating thickness. The BIC and EP in the dielectric waveguide comprising a metal grating, particularly with such tunability, are expected to result in the development of functional and high-performance photonic devices in addition to being a platform for the fundamental research of non-Hermitian systems.

Tunable Liquid Crystal (LC)-based microwave components are of increasing interest in academia and industry. Based on these components, numerous applications can be targeted such as tunable microwave filters and beam-steering antenna systems. With the commercialization of first LC-steered antennas for Ku-band e.g., by Kymeta and Alcan Systems, LC-based microwave components left early research stages behind. With the introduction of terrestrial 5G communications systems, moving to millimeter-wave communication, these systems can benefit from the unique properties of LC in terms of material quality. In this paper, we show recent developments in millimeter wave phase shifters for antenna arrays. The limits of classical high-performance metallic rectangular waveguides are clearly identified. A new implementation with dielectric waveguides is presented and compared to classic approaches.

This study presents ultra-low-loss and broadband all-silicon dielectric waveguides for the WR-1 band (0.75–1.1 THz). The waveguides are built in high-resistivity silicon (10 kΩ-cm) and integrated with supportive frames fabricated from the same silicon wafer in a single etch process to achieve a compact design. We pursued low-loss, broadband, substrateless, unclad and effective medium waveguides. Smaller propagation losses of 0.3 dB/cm and 0.1 dB/cm were achieved for the unclad and effective medium waveguides, respectively. The 3 dB bandwidth was not encountered in the frequency range of interest and was as broad as 350 GHz. An unclad waveguide was employed to devise a Y-junction to demonstrate its practical applications in terahertz imaging. An integrated circuit card was successfully scanned. In addition, we developed unclad waveguide, effective medium waveguide, and Y-junction modules. The modules incorporated an input/output interface compatible with a standard WR-1 flange (254 μm × 127 μm). Unlike the conventional hollow waveguide modules, the unclad waveguide and effective medium waveguide modules reported total loss improvements of 6 dB and 8 dB, respectively, across the operation band. Our results provided a systematic way of achieving low-loss, compact, and versatile modules in the WR-1 band based on all-dielectric-waveguide platforms.

Nano-patterning the semiconducting photoactive layer/back electrode interface of organic photovoltaic devices is a widely accepted approach to enhance the power conversion efficiency through the exploitation of numerous photonic and plasmonic effects. Yet, nano-patterning the semiconductor/metal interface leads to intertwined effects that impact the optical as well as the electrical characteristic of solar cells. In this work we aim to disentangle the optical and electrical effects of a nano-structured semiconductor/metal interface on the device performance. For this, we use an inverted bulk heterojunction P3HT:PCBM solar cell structure, where the nano-patterned photoactive layer/back electrode interface is realized by patterning the active layer with sinusoidal grating profiles bearing a periodicity of 300 nm or 400 nm through imprint lithography while varying the photoactive layer thickness (L PAL ) between 90 and 400 nm. The optical and electrical device characteristics of nano-patterned solar cells are compared to the characteristics of control devices, featuring a planar photoactive layer/back electrode interface. We find that patterned solar cells show for an enhanced photocurrent generation for a L PAL above 284 nm, which is not observed when using thinner active layer thicknesses. Simulating the optical characteristic of planar and patterned devices through a finite-difference time-domain approach proves for an increased light absorption in presence of a patterned electrode interface, originating from the excitation of propagating surface plasmon and dielectric waveguide modes. Evaluation of the external quantum efficiency characteristic and the voltage dependent charge extraction characteristics of fabricated planar and patterned solar cells reveals, however, that the increased photocurrents of patterned devices do not stem from an optical enhancement but from an improved charge carrier extraction efficiency in the space charge limited extraction regime. Presented findings clearly demonstrate that the improved charge extraction efficiency of patterned solar cells is linked to the periodic surface corrugation of the (back) electrode interface.

This paper addresses the issue of constructing millimeter band antennas using dielectric waveguide structures. A new type of linear antenna, incorporating metal pins on the side walls of the grooved dielectric waveguide, is proposed for generating polarization perpendicular to the waveguide axis. However, these antennas suffer from the drawback of cross-polarized radiation in directions close to the waveguide axis. To overcome this limitation, a modified antenna design with transverse polarization is introduced, featuring a closed groove waveguide with a longitudinal slot at the top of the wall. The paper provides a comparison between two types of dielectric waveguide antennas: first, waveguide antenna with grooves in the dielectric which results in longitudinal polarization, and second, waveguide antenna with quarter-wavelength pins which results in transverse polarization. Electrodynamic modeling data are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed antennas for satellite, 5G antenna, and radar applications. Finally, an antenna of quarter-wavelength pins is proposed with a frequency of 39 GHz, a gain of 19.8 dBi, and a width of the radiation pattern of 3.2∘, and a sidelobe level (SLL) of -13.3 dB has been achieved.

In this paper, we consider a nonlinear eigenvalue problem on a segment, which describes the propagation of monochromatic (polarized) electromagnetic TM waves in a planar dielectric waveguide filled with a nonlinear medium. Results on the solvability of the problem and properties of the eigenvalues are obtained.

A dual-polarized dielectric waveguide transmission system is proposed using low-loss material cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), with some other key components such as substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based orthomode transducers (OMT), the transitions between the OMT and dielectric waveguide, and the adaptors between the OMT and the standard rectangular waveguide. In the frequency range from 90 to 100 GHz, the proposed whole transmission system with a 40-cm-length COC-based dielectric waveguide has the lowest insertion loss of 5.31 dB caused by the coupling structure loss of 3.17 dB, the straight/bending COC-based dielectric waveguide losses of 2.33/2.47 dB/m, and the unavoidable radiation loss from the transition. The proposed system using COC-based dielectric waveguides could be a promising choice in low-loss and high-capacity off-chip short-to-medium wired transmission.

The problem of electromagnetic wave propagation in a planar dielectric waveguide is studied. The waveguide is filled with a nonlinear inhomogeneous medium; the nonlinearity is characterized by an arbitrary monotonic positive continuously differentiable function with power-law growth at infinity. The heterogeneity of the medium is characterized by small (nonmonotonic) perturbations of the linear part of the permittivity, as well as the coefficient of the nonlinear term. From a mathematical point of view, this problem is equivalent to a nonlinear eigenvalue problem for the system of Maxwell’s equations with mixed boundary conditions. To study the problem, a perturbation method is proposed with a simpler nonlinear problem as an unperturbed problem. The existence of both linearizable and nonlinearizable solutions is proved.

This paper presents the transmission characteristics of flexible solid circular dielectric waveguides in the terahertz frequency band. In this paper, we measured the electrical properties of certain polymers within 325–500 GHz. Through simulation and measurement, the transmission loss, bending loss, and electric field distribution of solid-core polymer dielectric waveguides were analyzed and discussed. Additionally, we considered the surrounding cladding of the dielectric waveguide, the signal-feeding mode transmitter, and the interconnection of the dielectric waveguide. Ultimately, in the operating frequency range of 325–500 GHz, we selected PTFE rods with diameters of 0.5 mm and 1 mm as the dielectric waveguides, with measured transmission loss of less than 30 dB/m and 33 dB/m, respectively, and bending loss of less than 1 dB/m. The described dielectric waveguide has engineering significance for short-distance connections in complex geometric environments and provides a reference for subsequent research.