Terahertz resonant transmission through metallic mesh truss structures

Abstract

In mechanical engineering, truss structures have attracted much attention because of their mechanical strength and light weight. However, electromagnetic properties of truss structures have been rarely reported. We experimentally and numerically investigated a terahertz transmission through a truss structure composed of metallic meshes. In the experiments, a resonant transmission was observed through the metallic mesh truss structure. The frequencies and spatial distributions of the resonant modes were investigated in the numerical simulations. The frequencies of the resonant modes obtained from the numerical simulations agreed well with the observed frequencies. The field distributions of the resonant modes resemble those of the resonant modes of a Fabry–Perot resonator. Because truss structures are practically empty, they could be applied in realizing sensors to detect the chemical reactions of gases or molecular biomaterials in response to their changing refractive index.