Submilliradian accuracy utilizing terahertz waves is used to often discover and observe novel physical phenomena. However, conventional terahertz polarizers cannot simultaneously realize a high extinction ratio, which restricts the sensitivity of the polarization angle, and a high transmission power across a broad frequency band due to the wires involved. Here, inspired by metamaterials, we demonstrate an anisotropic cut-through metal-slit array for an ideal terahertz polarizer with a high extinction ratio and transmission power. Measurements confirm extinction ratios below approximately -50  dB and average transverse magnetic-mode transmission powers of over 80% from 0.3 to 2.2 THz. The extremely sensitive mechanism can shed light on a variety of path-breaking applications such as single-photon detection and quantum information and communication at lower frequencies.

A terahertz polarizer consisting of a laminated metal-slit array on a polymer film is presented. Here, the iterative design is efficiently performed with a mode-matching method; the proposed polarizer’s characteristics are shown to be superior to those of conventional polarizers. To verify the proposed design, a copper metal-slit array was fabricated on a cyclo-olefin polymer film by sputtering and punching. Measurements confirm a high extinction ratio, below −50 dB from 0.28 to 1.09 THz and below −40 dB from 0.2 to 1.98 THz, with a TM-mode transmission power that averages 76% from 0.2 to 1.95 THz.

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