Design of a terahertz radiation modulator based on the effect of multi-wave interference in a layered structure consisting of a large number of liquid crystal $\pi$-cells
Abstract:Background and Objectives: An original design of a liquid crystal THz radiation modulator is proposed based on computer modeling. It consists of a stack of identical “classical” $\pi$–cells located one after another. Materials and Methods: Based on a computer model and by using the matrix method, the characteristics of the proposed device are studied: dependence of the device transmission on the control voltage, contrast ratio, and the modulator transmission value when the maximum control voltage is applied to it. Results: It has been shown that the modulator contrast ratio decreases with increasing wavelength of the modulated radiation, and the modulator transmission in the state with the maximum value of the control voltage does not exhibit such a dependence. It has been found that the decimal logarithm of the modulator contrast ratio linearly depends on the number of elementary $\pi$-cells included in its design. The slope coefficient of this linear function decreases with increasing wavelength of the modulated radiation. It has been shown that the described design of the THz radiation LC modulator is critical to the technological spread in the thickness of the elementary LC cell. However, the magnitude of this spread fits into the simple technology of manufacturing elementary $\pi$-cells and does not require improvement.
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