Highly Birefringent, Low-Loss, and Near-Zero Flat Dispersion ENZ Based THz Photonic Crystal Fibers

Abstract

In this paper, we present and compare two experimentally feasible photonic crystal fiber (PCF) designs (Type-I and Type-II) which ensure near-zero flattened dispersion with ultra-high phase and group birefringence at THz frequencies. Both structures are based on a subset of a triangular array of circular air-holes, which define the cladding of the PCF and a central elliptical air-hole which breaks the symmetry of the structure, thus introducing high levels of birefringence. Additionally, we investigate the possibility of further enhancing the birefringence properties of Type-II structure by selectively filling the air-holes with Potassium Chloride (KCl) as strong Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) material. Our investigation reveals that significant enhancement of birefringence can be achieved than its original counterpart with birefringence to be as high as 0.0627 at 6.2 THz and near-zero flat dispersion of-0.54 ± 0.04 ps/THz/cm over the frequency range of 6.2 6.3 THz.