Inkjet printed conductive polymer-based beam-splitters for terahertz applications

Terahertz beam-splitters are fabricated from conductive polymers inkjet printed onto an acetate film substrate. The principle is a significant evolution of the recently proposed ultra-thin beam-splitter realized using silver conductive paint. The splitting ratios of the beam-splitters are dependent on the thickness and conductivity of the conductive polymer layer, allowing for any splitting ratio to be achieved accurately from a controlled printing process. As the processing technology of conductive polymers matures, this approach will allow for low cost and accurate fabrication of THz beam-splitters with a predefined near frequency-independent splitting ratio, in contrast to the commonly used float zone silicon wafers. © 2013 Optical Society of America.Benjamin S.-Y. Ung, Bo Weng, Roderick Shepherd, Derek Abbott, and Christophe Fumeau