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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Characterization of Plasmonic Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters
Published on: July 8, 2013
Quadrupole radiation from terahertz dipole antennas
J V Rudd1, J L Johnson, D M Mittleman
1Picometrix, Inc., P.O. Box 130243, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48113, USA.
Abstract:
We report what is to our knowledge the first detailed investigation of the polarization state of radiation from lens-coupled terahertz dipole antennas. The radiation exhibits a weak but measurable component that is polarized orthogonally to the orientation of the emitter dipole. The angular radiation pattern of this cross-polarized emission reveals that it is quadrupolar, rather than dipolar, in nature. One can understand this result by taking into account the photocurrent flowing in the strip lines that feed the dipole antenna. A Fresnel-Kirchhoff scalar diffraction calculation is used for calculating the frequency-dependent angular distribution of the radiation pattern, providing satisfactory agreement with the measurements.
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