International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No.

1, 2024

Low Loss THz Waveguides and Its Potentials

towards 6G Communication: A Brief Chronicle
Review
Arslan Ahmed Sohoo1,2,*, Fauziahanim Che Seman1,2,*, Yee See Khee1,2,
Noor Azura Awang3, and Izhar Ahmed Sohu4
1
Faculty of Electric and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun Husein Onn Malaysia, Malaysia
2
Research Center for Applied Electromagnetic, Institute for Integrated Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn
Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
3
Faculty of Applied Science and Technology, Universiti Tun Husein Onn Malaysia, Malaysia
4
Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Malaysia
Email: [email protected] (A.A.S.), [email protected] (F.C.S.), [email protected] (Y.S.K.),
[email protected] (N.A.A.), [email protected] (I.A.S.)

Abstract—Advancement in technology has opened the doors With the advancement in equipment and devices, the
for the terahertz (THz) frequency range to be applied in THz frequency range is being used in various new
different fields for various applications. The future applications and it has been proven that the gap has a
communication technology, especially 6G, will also intend to
potential for future applications in every field. This range
utilize the THz frequency band due to its large bandwidth
that has the capabilities to achieve a high data rate. Great of frequency is being used to detect and recognize foreign
losses are presented in the early research into terahertz bodies, insects, metals, and other materials in powder
transmission medium. It is critical to design an appropriate milk processing with 100% accuracy [3]. Due to its non-
waveguide that can integrate the THz waves into the system ionizing characteristics and transparency in plastic, glass,
efficiently with minimum loss and provides the ease of and packing, it can easily justify the quality of packed
transmission of data and overcomes the free space loss food [4]. The THz range is also used to detect and real-
issues. Communication, sensing, and other application time track any moving object with and without a line of
parameters are highly affected by transmission losses;
sight (LOS) at great accuracy [5] material adulteration,
therefore, low transmission loss and dispersion loss
waveguide designs are required for proper utilization. In quality food, material characterization, and ultra-compact
this paper, the review on reduction in the transmission loss RFID tags are also taken in this frequency range [6, 7].
in different types of waveguides operating at the Terahertz Thickness and depth of car paints [8], different sensors
frequency range is studied. The design and the experimental [6], imaging for detection of breast cancer [9], the leaky-
setup for several classes of THz waveguides for minimizing wave and sub-THz antenna [10, 11], compact size THz
transmission loss are also discussed. The review study shows waveguide filters [12], rapid detection and sensing of
that these waveguides can be a promising transmission viruses as COVID-19 [13] are utilizing this range of
medium for future 6G communication. frequencies. Hence capturing a large chunk of
Index Terms—Spectroscopy, transmission loss, terahertz, applications in every field.
waveguide, 6G Recently, electromagnetic waves of the optical and the
terahertz frequency range have been implemented in a
I. INTRODUCTION variety of applications. As technology is being advanced,
the number of users as well as the number of devices are
The region between the microwave and the infrared increasing exponentially. So, the requirement for a high
radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum is terahertz data rate is also increasing. The current available data rate
(THz) radiation. This range of frequency shares the is good for present technologies such as video calling,
properties of microwaves as well as infrared radiations. and online gaming but future applications such as Mixed
THz radiation travels in the line of sight (LOS), similar to Reality (MR), Autonomous Vehicles (AV), and so on,
microwave and infrared radiation. THz radiation can pass require much more data. In this context. 6G and beyond
through cardboard and plastic, ceramics, paper, and a technology will also use the THz frequency range for
wide range of non-conducting materials. However, the high-speed communication in the range of terabits per
depth of penetration is lower as compared to microwaves. second, which will no doubt bring revolution in
These radiations have poor penetration through the clouds technology as well in the human lifestyle. The expected
and fogs and can not penetrate through the water and frequency spectrum allocated for the 6G communication
metals [1, 2]. is shown in Fig. 1 [14, 15].
The optical and microwave waveguides have been
exploited in the electromagnetic spectrum as imaging and
Manuscript received June 19, 2023; revised September 19, 2023; sensing probes. The key component of the quantum
accepted September 30, 2023; published January 2, 2024.
* cascade laser is the waveguide that guides the
Corresponding authors

doi: 10.18178/ijeetc.13.1.1-16 1
 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

electromagnetic waves in the sub-wavelength range; characterized. The frequency domain (FD) requires
beyond the diffraction limit and offers tight confinement continuous-wave lasers, while the time domain (TD)
of the waves in the waveguide structure beyond the spectroscopy needs a femtosecond (fs) pulse laser. The
Rayleigh range. Similarly, the waveguides can provide TD-THz spectroscopy is usually common in which the
the same benefits at the THz spectrum. The increase of time-resolved electric field of THz is measured and
research activities in the terahertz frequency range for compared with the reference beam. The pulse generated
various applications has produced a layer of interest for is divided into two beams, as shown in Fig. 2.
the development of the THz component, such as sources, One optical beam is passed through the waveguide or
detectors, and low-loss guides. The THz systems are sample, and the other is delayed with the help of different
being used for different applications ranging from simple components. Once the data is received in the time domain,
power delivery to enhancing the sensitivity in THz the fast Fourier transform (FFT) is applied to visualize it
spectroscopy and improving the resolution of the THz in the frequency domain [19]. Fig. 3 shows the time
imaging. domain pulse and its frequency response.
It can be seen in the FFT plot that at 1 THz, the
relative amplitude is at maximum or value nearest to 1.
Further, as the frequency increases, the amplitude
decreases accordingly. In application, researchers [20–22]
have followed various configurations of THz
spectroscopy by changing optical paths using different
components.

Fig. 1. 6G Expected spectrum allocation.

Conventional waveguides, rectangular or cylindrical,

were limited to the frequency of 200 GHz; as the
frequency goes high, they offer high attenuation, low
power handling capability, dispersive nature, and so on.
The attenuation level measured at these frequencies was
about 10 dB to 20 dB per meter [16]. This limitation led
the researchers to research various transmission methods
[17, 18]. Fig. 2. THz Spectroscopy setup for sample or waveguide
In this study, the Characterization and measurement of characterization.
THz waves are discussed in Section II. Section III briefly
discusses the different low-loss waveguides proposed for
THz propagation, which is further categorized on the
basis of materials, and each one is discussed in detail in
further sections. Metallic waveguides with categories are
discussed in Section IV, dielectric waveguides in Section
V, and hybrid waveguides are discussed in Section VI.
Each category is discussed with types, pros, and cons.
Section VII briefly discusses the analysis and the
discussion of all mentioned THz waveguides. Finally, the
conclusion is given in Section VIII.

II. GENERATION OF THZ WAVES AND MEASUREMENT

REALIZATION
The characterization of THz waveguides is simply the
study of dispersion, absorption, and the loss properties of
the waveguide as the function of wavelength or frequency.
The generation of the THz pulses is done with non-linear
crystals and photoconductive antennas. A number of
components, such as mirrors, lenses, polarizers, and so on,
are utilized to focus and manipulate the optical path of
the THz pulses generated by the source. Dielectric lenses
are usually used to overcome the coupling issue by
focusing the THz beam to achieve a smaller spot size at
the waveguide interface.
There are a number of techniques of THz spectroscopy;
Frequency domain, time domain, and interferometric
Fig. 3. Pulse: (a) time domain waveform and (b) FFT response.
spectroscopy by which the waveguide can be

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III. LOW LOSS THZ WAVEGUIDE IV. LOSS REDUCTION IN METALLIC WAVEGUIDES
After the advancement of technology and nano-scale Metallic waveguides are less dissipative at the THz
fabrication, THz has almost captured the market of frequency range as compared to the even higher
various applications, changed the concept, and opened the frequency range, such as the visible range. So, they can
doors for new applications, novel designs, and still be used for terahertz transmission. These waveguides
technologies. The propagation of THz radiation through can be considered as the scaled-down variant of the
the medium is still quite challenging for the researcher as conventional large-size waveguides. Metallic waveguides
such a high-frequency range experiences very high can be further categorized according to shape and design,
attenuation through the medium especially in the air and such as solid wire, hollow circular, helical, parallel plate,
water. At these frequencies, wavelengths approach the and slot-based waveguides. Each of these types is
size of the air molecules so, the molecular absorption discussed in this research separately.
parameter is also taken under consideration when
A. Solid Core Waveguide
propagation of THz waves is employed.
Material selection for designing the waveguides at the Metallic wire waveguides are promising candidates for
terahertz frequency range is one of the major barriers to efficient THz propagation due to their several advantages
enhancing their applications in many fields. Metals such such as simple structure, low loss, and dispersion [24].
as copper, silver, and gold are very suitable for The solid wire (bare) is also referred to as Sommerfeld
microwave frequencies, as they offer very high ohmic wire, named after the successful solution of maxwell
loss in the THz frequency range. Whereas polymers, and equations in the single wire by Sommerfeld, and the
glass, which are very favorable for the light and infrared waves that flow are called Sommerfeld waves. These
frequencies, have undesirable frequency-dependent waves are loosely confined to the surface of the wire. A
absorption losses [23]. Another major hurdle that has bare metal wire was investigated by Wang et al. in 2004,
limited the THz range in the application of and it was seen that the wire has a very small surface area
communication systems and spectroscopy systems is the interfacing the field; thus, a very low ohmic loss is
group velocity dispersion leading to the different experienced [25]. They used stainless steel of 0.9 mm
components received at different times and making the diameter and found an attenuation constant of 0.03 cm−1
pulse distorted. Metals near the cut-off frequencies of and almost zero-dispersion from 0.25 THz to 0.75 THz
their guided mode; transverse electric (TE), transverse frequency range [25]. They also constructed the THz
magnetic (TM), or hybrid electric (HE) mode face strong spectroscope by using the wire waveguide, flasks, and
dispersion whereas in TEM mode as it has no cut-off distilled mirrors, as shown in Fig. 5.
frequency, there is no dispersion. In the case of dielectric Solid wires of different radii were investigated to
or polymer waveguides, they mainly suffer from analyze the attenuation, power handling, and capability
waveguide dispersion. by Wiltse [26]. Markov et al., in 2014, reviewed the
A variety of waveguides are proposed by different theoretical and experimental progress in designing the
researchers with different types, shapes, and materials wire-based waveguides for the THz frequency range.
that are designed for low loss and low dispersion at the They summarized the guidance properties of two-wire
THz frequency range, as shown in Fig. 4. A detailed and three-wire waveguides coated by the polyethylene
review of each class of waveguides designed for the THz dielectric, as shown in Fig. 6. They concluded that the
range is discussed and compared separately in this paper. guidance mechanism in these wires can change with the
changing of operating frequency [27, 28].

Fig. 5. THz spectroscopy based on wire waveguide [25].

Fig. 6. Two and three-wire with polyethylene dielectric coating from

Fig. 4. Classification of THz waveguide.
[28].

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

imaging, a hollow elliptical waveguide (HEW) is

fabricated and analyzed experimentally. The proposed
waveguide has a flexible polarization-maintaining (PM)
metallic hollow waveguide with an elliptical core. The
elliptical core of a polycarbonate (PC) capillary with a
silver film interior is used to produce the HEW. At 100
Fig. 7. Metal wire waveguide for THz range. GHz, a measured loss of 0.92 dB/m and a polarization
ratio of 97.2% is obtained [36]. A very narrow circular
The AC and DC conductivity model was analyzed on copper metallic waveguide of radius 1 mm has been
different wires by Chu et al. in 2017. A relationship studied to analyze its feasibility to be utilized for efficient
between surface plasmonic and their supporting structure and low loss propagation of THz waves [37]. Recently,
was achieved [29]. They theoretically studied the relation Yan et al. [38] and Syahnon et al. [39] investigated the
between frequency and attenuation with variation in wire
circular waveguide for the propagation of THz waves for
radius. Recently in 2022, a geometry of four wires was future communication systems such as TDSL.
used to support polarization division multiplexed (PDM) Remarks: The waveguides operating at the THz
at the THz range with low loss and low dispersion [30]. frequency range tightly confine the propagation modes in
The four-wire waveguide geometry, as shown in Fig. 7, the structure, and the hollow metallic waveguide
supports low loss and low dispersion propagation of THz experience attenuation only due to ohmic loss by the
radiation. By engraving the wire, it is possible to
metallic surface and have very low loss as compared to
manipulate independently two PDM terahertz signals. the microstrip line transmission.
Bare metallic wire THz waveguides are popular due to
their different advantages such as low loss and low C. Parallel Plate Waveguides
dispersions and ability of radiation manipulation and The main feature of the parallel plate THz waveguide
processing such as [31, 32]. is that its fundamental mode of propagation is a quasi-
Remarks: Hence the metallic wire waveguide, due to TEM mode. Therefore, there is no cut-off frequency for
its low dispersion property, can be used for broadband the parallel plate THz waveguides. If the bandwidth is
signal transmission. However, coupling loss is due to the about 3 THz, the gap between the plates should be less
polarization mismatch, and different approaches are than 100 µm. For effective coupling into the air gap
proposed for this issue [33]. between the plates, a tapered parallel plate waveguide
B. Hollow Metallic Tube was experimentally analyzed [40]. In 2001, Mendis and
Grischkowsky used parallel plate metallic waveguides to
Metallic circular cross-sectional waveguides for the
demonstrate the distortion less propagation at THz pulses
THz frequency range were first experimentally supporting the single TEM mode of propagation. They
investigated by McGowan et al. in 1999. They used the achieved the attenuation constant of about 0.3 cm−1 in
quasi-optical method to couple THz pulses [34]. They parallel plate waveguide and almost no dispersion from
presented that circular metallic waveguides have lower 0.1 THz to 4 THz frequency range. The main losses in
losses compared to coplanar and transmission line cables.
these waveguides are ohmic loss due to finite
This is because THz propagating in the circular wave- conductivity and divergence loss due to beam spreading
guide faces only ohmic losses in the body of the metallic in unguided directions [41].
waveguide, while in the case of coplanar and microstrip, In 2013, Mueckstein et al. investigated the effect of
they experience three losses while propagating the THz gap size on THz pulse transmissions in the tapered
pulses, i.e., Dielectric loss of substrate, ohmic loss due to parallel plate waveguide (PPWG) geometry. They found
the metallic strip or conductor and the radiation loss. At 1
out that due to the mismatch between the free space
THz frequency, McGowan got attenuation constant α= propagating beam and fundamental TEM mode, there is
0.7 cm−2 for circular waveguide, α= 14 cm−2 for coplanar, an excitation of higher-order modes. By optimizing the
and α= 14 cm−2 for the microstrips transmission line. gap, multimode interference can be mitigated as the gap
However, circular metallic waveguides at THz have affects the leakage radiations and group velocity in
strong dispersion near cut-off frequency [34].
higher-order modes. The proposed parallel plate
He et al. in 2021, theoretically as well as
waveguide for the THz range can be seen in Fig. 8 [42].
experimentally demonstrated the gradually tapered
metallic waveguide (GTMW) for efficient transmission
and imaging purposes at the frequency range of 300 GHz
[35]. The authors claim that the proposed waveguide has
much lower transmission losses and small additional
losses due to bending. The diameter of the waveguide
with bore size ranges from 1.6 mm to 2.6 mm, one with
straight and the other with bending condition, and the
length was chosen as 1 m. The measured attenuation
constant for straight and bent waveguides was obtained at
4.48 dB/m and 7.78 dB/m respectively. In 2022, for the
Fig. 8. Parallel plate waveguide for THz range.
linearly polarized 100 GHz wave propagation and

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Remarks: Parallel plate waveguides have no cut-off THz frequency because THz radiations are mainly
frequency and almost no dispersion because of TEM concerned with air core, while solid-core waveguides
mode excitation. It is possible when the incoming beam suffer from material absorption. Therefore, waveguide
polarization is perpendicular to the parallel plate and structure and material have great importance to
TE11 when it is parallel. The separation between the performance. There are a number of classes and types of
plates should be properly chosen to confine the dielectric waveguides introduced by researchers. The
propagation mode. three main types of dielectric waveguide, hollow, solid
core, and sporous dielectric waveguide are discussed here.
D. Other Metallic Waveguides
Besides these THz waveguides, there are a few more A. Hollow Core
types of metallic waveguides, such as metallic helical Hollow-core waveguides have low material absorption
waveguides theoretically and experimentally analyzed by in the THz range because radiation mainly propagates
Vogt et al. [43] with different patches for low loss and through the air core. In metallic pipe waveguides, the
low dispersion THz waveguide and achieved the transmission efficiency is not good and does not have the
attenuation coefficient below 0.1 cm−1. Another type: the facility of bending and flexibility, so a flexible hollow
metallic slot waveguide, was proposed by Wacher et al. dielectric waveguide of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)
in 2007 for the strong field confinement of THz waves in was introduced by Hidaka et al. [47] for the THz
the waveguide. It confines more electromagnetic fields as spectrum. The transmittance of bent hollow PVDF
compared to the metal wire waveguide, but the slit waveguides is also investigated. The dielectric constant
waveguide has more attenuation loss than the metal wires. of PVDF is frequency-dependent and becomes negative
The attenuation coefficient for this waveguide was found at frequencies above 0.3 THz, so the material shows
to be less than 0.07 cm−1 in the frequency range of 0.1 to reflection like metals. Hidaka et al. prepared two
1 THz [44]. Progress in designing an efficient THz waveguides, one with PVDF and the other with Ni-Cu of
waveguide is non-stop as recently proposed ultra- the same size of 8 mm bore diameter, 120 µm thickness,
broadband metallic waveguide for THz wave and 30 cm long. He analyzed the transmission
transmission [45]. characteristics of both straight waveguides [47].
The pros, cons, and solutions to mitigate or improve It was found that PVDF has a three times larger
the cons of the above-discussed metallic waveguides are transmission coefficient than metallic pipe of the same
given in Table I. size. The attenuation constant of 7.4 dB/m and 23 dB/m
was achieved for PVDF and metallic pipe, respectively,
TABLE I: PROS, CONS, AND SOLUTIONS OF DIFFERENT METALLIC which is again three times less for PVDF as shown in Fig.
WAVEGUIDES
9. Chen et al. studied the comparative study between
Solid wire Hollow tube Parallel plate
solid and hollow polymers. Different parameters were
Type studied and simulated and showed that the hollow
polymer has better confinement properties and low loss
as compared to solid polymer [48].
Support TEM
Low loss,
Very low mode,
Pros High field
dispersion No group velocity
confinement
dispersion
High loss due
to finite
Coupling
conductivity,
issue, Low Propagation
Cons High
low field mode confinement
dispersion near
confinement
the cut-off
frequency
Coating with
dielectric, use Dielectric Using tapered
Solution
two/three coating PPWG
wires

Fig. 9. Transmission coefficient for PVDFF and Metal pipe from [47].
V. LOSS REDUCTION IN DIELECTRIC WAVEGUIDES
Dielectric waveguides are another major or widely In 2018, Lai et al. investigated the transmission
used waveguides for the frequency range of terahertz. characteristics of the THz dielectric waveguide under the
Optical fiber is also one of the dielectric waveguides used extreme conditions layer where the cladding index is near
to guide optical frequencies. Choosing a proper dielectric to one or very thin. It was found that bandwidth increases
material greatly affects the performance of the waveguide, as the cladding index of cladding thickness is reduced.
such as transmission loss and dispersion. The systematic Besides that, by increasing the core diameter, the
investigation of dielectric properties such as the dielectric bandwidth is enhanced. However, practically it is almost
constant and refractive index of different polymers in the impossible to get both simultaneously [49]. The proposed
terahertz frequency range was done by Jin et al. [46]. The THz pipe waveguide can be seen in Fig. 10 (a). A simple,
hollow-core waveguides have low absorption loss at the easily-made 3D printer THz fibre with an elliptical

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hollow core was proposed in 2019. The photosensitive range of less than 2.5 THz and less than 1 cm−1 for the
resin (SomosEvoLVe 128), the most popular material for frequency range of 0.1 THz to 3.5 THz for sapphire and
3D printers, is used and is shown in Fig. 10 (b). An plastic ribbon waveguides, respectively [53, 54]. A solid
elliptical tube works as the core leading to the structure core dielectric waveguide was proposed in 2006 by Chen
and an outside circular tube acts as cladding. The et al. [55], in which a polyethylene waveguide was used,
proposed waveguide can be used for sensing in the and a loss of less than 0.01 cm−1 was achieved at 0.3 THz.
bending direction because it is highly sensitive to that They used the waveguide whose dimensions were less
direction [50]. than its operating wavelength; hence almost power travels
in the air clade, thus reducing the loss dramatically. In
2015, a 3D-printed dielectric helical waveguide was
compared with a helical metallic waveguide. It was
demonstrated that the dielectric helical waveguide had a
very low loss than the metallic one at higher frequencies
above 0.7 THz. It was flexible and could be easily printed
by 3D printing [56]. With this advantage, in 2019 and
2020, a solid core polypropylene fiber was
(a) experimentally demonstrated by Nallappan et al. to
transfer a very high data rate for 10 meters [57, 58].
In 2021, a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) solid core
fiber is proposed by Wang et al. for a THz polymer
transmission system for the short, secure, and fast
communication system. The diameter of the PTFE
waveguide was taken as 2 mm and the length varied from
(b) 1 m to 10 m simulated results were achieved to obtain
Fig. 10. (a) THz pipe waveguide and (b) elliptical hollow core. low loss and better SINR and BER from the
communication system with medium as PTFE waveguide
In 2022, an experimental demonstration of an for efficient future communication system design. The
innovative hollow-core antiresonant THz waveguide with lowest. The authors obtained the lowest attenuation
high birefringence and low loss. The waveguide is a constant of less than 6.5 dB/m with dispersion parameters
spherical tube with two pairs of symmetric parallel slabs smaller than 1.8 ps/GHz/m between the frequency range
implanted in it. This waveguide is manufactured with of 100 GHz to 1600 GHz [59].
photosensitive resins by using 3D printing technology Remarks: Due to its sub-wavelength dimension, the
and investigated using THz-TD spectroscopy. The electric field is almost guided in the air surrounding, thus
authors claim to achieve the lowest loss about 0.12 cm-1 reducing the absorption drastically. Besides this, it has
by using this proposed waveguide [51]. some disadvantages as it is affected by bending and
Recently, a circular hollow dielectric waveguide made discontinuities, and guided signals are affected by
up of polyethylene (PE) for a potential candidate as a handling the equipment.
transmission medium in the future communication system
such as TDSL. The inner and outer diameters as 0.5 mm C. Porous Dielectric Waveguides
and 1 mm respectively and the lowest attenuation The ratio between the surfaces of air holes to the core
constant obtained through simulation analysis is about is called the porosity of a waveguide. The absorption loss
0.003 dB/mm [52]. in the core can be reduced by introducing the pores in the
Remarks: Almost all the THz pulse propagates through core. In 2002, a plastic photonic crystal fiber (PPCF) was
the hollow tube air. The small interface with the material demonstrated by Han et al. and showed that PPCF can be
makes it a low-loss dielectric waveguide and can be used used for efficient propagation of guided waves in the
for sensing applications. One drawback is that they are frequency range of 0.1 THz to 3 THz [60].
not flexible as they are very thin in dimension. In 2011, THz porous fiber was characterized by using
the micromachined photoconductive prob-tip technique,
B. Solid Core and the obtained loss was under 0.08 cm−1 in the
Solid core dielectric waveguides are mostly affected by frequency range of 0.2 THz to 0.35 THz. The lowest loss
material absorption as almost all radiation interacts with achieved at 0.24 THz was 0.003 cm−1 [61]. In 2021, the
the dielectric material. Since not much material is optical properties of hexagonal-shaped air holes in the
available for very low loss in the THz range, it is very defect-less porous core were experimentally analyzed for
important to select the proper shape and material for a the THz range. In the frequency range of 0.1 THz to 0.33
solid core waveguide. Sapphire fibers and Ribbon THz, the loss was about 0.02 cm-1 to 0.07 cm−1. A PCF
waveguides were one of the initial solid wire waveguides waveguide based on the D-shaped core was proposed for
proposed by Jamison et al. at Oklahoma State University the efficient propagation of THz waves [62]. The authors
Research Group. As the name implies, the structure of achieved a loss of about 0.027 dB/cm and for the
these waveguides was sapphire having diameters of 325 frequency range from 0.85 THz to 1.25 THz, almost zero
µm, 250 µm, and 150 µm. These waveguides offer very flatted dispersion is obtained. Islam et al. in 2019
low absorption loss of less than 6 cm-1 at the frequency suggested a fiber with a square lattice-shaped core made

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of suspended Topas as shown in Fig. 11(a). At 1.0 THz researchers, but few of them are discussed in this study.
operating frequency, they were able to design a porous A slab dielectric waveguide was introduced in 2013 by
core fiber with an extremely low effective material loss Melakabadi et al. [67], and they used high resistive
(EML) of just 0.017 cm−1 for 330 µm of core length [63]. silicon because of its high transparency in the THz
An extremely low-loss PCF with a novel and unique frequency range. It was found that it has a very low loss
core design was presented by Dash et al. in 2020. For and dispersion in the time and frequency domain.
improved performance, the core's hexagonal Another rectangular flexible and thermally isolated
configuration of circular air holes was significantly waveguide was introduced and investigated for radio
modified. A hexagonal arrangement of circular air holes astronomy. The measured average attenuation was 0.034
surrounds the core area acting as cladding. Additionally, dB/mm and 0.069 dB/mm at two temperatures, 3000 K
TOPAS has been utilized as backdrop material because of and 3400 K, in the frequency range of 240 GHz to 300
its consistent refractive index and is less expensive. The GHz [68]. In 2020, a planner dielectric waveguide
lowest loss achieved by the them is 0.049 dB/cm. [64]. miniaturized is analyzed for broad-scale applications. The
Another defect less porous core fiber was proposed and power transmission loss obtained in between 0.55 to 1.05
experimentally analyzed by Lee et al. in 2021. The THz frequency range is 0.32 cm−1 to 1 cm−1. A broadband
proposed THz waveguide was made from PTFE material planner dielectric waveguide was experimentally
and has air holes arranged in a hexagonal manner as analyzed by Mukherjee et al. using TD-THz spectroscopy
shown in Fig. 11(b). The diameter of the waveguide was [69]. The waveguide was made up of highly resistive
3 mm, length 207 mm with a porosity percentage of 40. It silicon of 20050 µm2 dimensions and the attenuation
was experimentally validated with a calculation that the constant achieved was between 0.32 dB/cm to 1 dB/cm
proposed THz waveguide has a low loss of about 0.02 for the frequency range of 0.55 THz to 1.05 THz.
dB/cm to 0.07 dB/cm over the frequency range of 100 The pros, cons, and the solution to mitigate or improve
GHz to 330 GHz [65]. Porous core fiber for the THz the cons for the above-discussed dielectric waveguides
communication system is actively taking part due to its are given in Table II.
lower loss as recently suspended square core photonic
crystal fiber is proposed for low loss THz waveguide. An TABLE II: PROS, CONS, AND SOLUTIONS OF DIFFERENT DIELECTRIC
attenuation constant of 0.05 dB/cm and dispersion loss of WAVEGUIDES
0.48 ps/THz/cm is achieved [66]. Type Hollow Solid Core Porous

Pros Low absorption Flexible, Low Better confinement

absorption loss and low loss
Cons Affected by Fabrication
Not Flexible bending complexity,
discontinuity loss
Solution Using Using sub- Need Advanced
(a)
metamaterial wavelength fabrication
cladding waveguide technology

VI. LOSS REDUCTION IN HYBRID-CLAD WAVEGUIDES

Dielectric materials have relatively high absorption in
most dielectric materials while metals have ohmic losses,
so the development of waveguiding technology for
terahertz waves is quite difficult. One way to mitigate this
loss is by designing a waveguide structure where the
(b) wave energy is mostly distributed in the air region, and
Fig. 11. (a) Square lattice-shaped core waveguide and (b) Hexagonal only a small fraction propagates inside the absorbing
manner THz porous waveguide. medium [23]. A hybrid waveguide is another category in
the waveguides proposed to reduce the attenuation and
Remarks: Porous waveguides have less frequency- dispersion loss in the waveguides, which have a
dependent losses and dispersion losses as compared to minimum of two different cladding layers. Each layer has
solid core dielectric waveguides. Nevertheless, high its own special property and contributes to mode
birefringence is introduced with the asymmetrical propagation. In some cases, one layer acts as a support to
discontinuities, and the fabrication of these porous another layer. Layers can be simple material, meta-
waveguides is quite challenging. The major application of material, or any structure. Generally, in hybrid-clad
these waveguides is biosensors. waveguides metal layer is used as a reflecting surface.
There are a number of hybrid-clad waveguides proposed
D. Other Dielectric Waveguides for the THz frequency range, such as dielectric-lined
Besides these shapes and materials, a number of waveguides, meta-material, and so on. A few of them are
dielectric waveguides have been proposed by different discussed below.

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

A. Dielectric-Lined THz Waveguides fiber was selected as 1 mm after optimization, and 31

Among the designs, the dielectric-lined hollow layers of PVD/PC reflectors were used, as shown in Fig.
metallic waveguide has the lowest transmission losses 13.
[70]. Dielectric-lined hollow waveguides have drawn the
attention of researchers for a few decades due to their low
loss and low dispersion. The dielectric coating can be
done on the outer surface of a tube, the inner surface of a
tube, or on both sides. Different approaches have been
proposed for loss reduction. In 2004, Harrington et al.
proposed the first hybrid-clad hollow-core metal-coated
waveguide for THz propagation. Hollow-core waveguide
with an inner metallic coating behaves as a metallic
waveguide if the metal film thickness is greater than the Fig. 13. Bragg THz Waveguide.
skin depth at THz frequency. The deposited Cu thickness
was chosen as 0.5 µm to 0.7 µm, which is greater than the Theoretically, the lowest attenuation loss achieved was
skin depth of 0.05 µm. They choose three bore diameters less than 0.5 dB/m for the frequency range from 1 to 3
of 2 mm, 3 mm, and 6.3 mm and taken measurements at THz [74]. In 2013, Munir et al. demonstrated the
three different frequencies 1.6 THz, 1.9 THz, and 2.5 dielectric line method with PS coating into the inner
THz. The lowest loss achieved was 3.9 dB/m at 1.9 THz surface of the metallic waveguide walls to reduce the
for the bore size of 3 mm [71]. Another hybrid-clad transmission loss of hollow circular waveguide at THz
design was proposed by Bowden et al. They fabricated a spectrum, especially for TE01. They investigated the
silver/polystyrene (Ag/PS) coated hollow glass effect of waveguide diameter radius and the thickness of
waveguide with a PS coating thickness of 8.2 µm and a PS coating on transmission loss. They showed that
waveguide bore size of 2.2 mm. The large bore size increasing the diameter of the waveguide can reduce
reduces the attenuation to a great extent and increases the transmission loss. However, the operating bandwidth
coupling efficiency [72]. On the other hand, a larger bore becomes narrower, and dielectric thickness should be
size allows the excitation of higher-order modes [23]. properly selected. Increasing dielectric width beyond the
Ag/PS hollow glass waveguide achieved a much lower limit can also increase the loss [75].
attenuation of 0.95 dB/m at 2.5 THz with a bore size of Another dielectric-lined metallic hollow waveguide
2.2 mm and 90 cm waveguide length. They found that (DMHW) design was theoretically proposed by Sun et al.
hollow glass waveguides having thin PS coating support [76] to reduce the losses in the THz waveguide. They
TE mode; if the width of PS coating increases, the HE analyzed the multilayer structure to reduce the bend and
mode dominates [72]. Experimental and numerical transmission losses in the DMHW. Multilayer gold
analysis with fabrication technique for low-loss hollow waveguide having the stack of Silicon doped
waveguide in 2011 was done by Oleg Mitrofanov et al. polypropylene and polypropylene and compared the Au
[73]. They reviewed the research on low loss terahertz waveguide with single and multiple Au/PP waveguides as
waveguides and compared some previously proposed low shown in Fig. 14. The efficiency of the multilayer
loss waveguides, as shown in Fig. 12. DMHW mainly relies on selecting proper geometrical
parameters and dielectric material. It was found that low-
index dielectric materials have higher losses than high-
index dielectric layers.

Fig. 14. Dielectric lined waveguides for THz range.

In 2016, Li et al. introduced a new class of dielectric

Fig. 12. Transmission loss estimation of different waveguides from [73].
waveguides, the single-mode hollow-core THz
It can be seen that the waveguide having the lowest waveguide with the metamaterial cladding that had sub-
loss for the THz transmission is the dielectric-lined wavelength diameter metal wires embedded into the
hollow metallic waveguide. Skorobogatiya et al. dielectric as shown in Fig. 15. They proposed, studied,
introduced Bragg waveguides [74]. They are multilayer fabricated, and experimentally characterized the THz
band-gap waveguides in which the periodic cylindrical metamaterial waveguide and found that the proposed
structure surrounds the air core. They theoretically metamaterial waveguide with the same dimension as in
demonstrated the hollow core with multiple layers of the dielectric coated metal waveguide has 2.3 times wider
PVDF and Polycarbonate (PC) polymer for the THz bandwidth and achieved the minimum loss of 0.28 dB/cm
frequency range. The diameter of the hollow core Bragg [77].

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

Fig. 16. Graphene-based cladding THz waveguide.

(a) (b)
Fig. 15. Hollow waveguide with metamaterial cladding (a) sketch of a In 2014, Qing Tang described the characteristics of
waveguide and (b) fabricated waveguide with the cross-sectional view perfect electric conductor (PEC) - graphene and
from [77]. graphene-graphene waveguides for the THz regime. The
propagation characteristics of the waveguide can be
In 2020, another design for metamaterial cladding was
introduced by Sultana et al. An anti-resonant waveguide controlled by the magnetic and electric bias fields. It was
with optimized metallic wire inclusion was proposed for found that graphene-based waveguides have lower
the low-loss terahertz spectrum. They compared the attenuation than conductor waveguides [82]. Derakhshi et
waveguide with and without the wire inclusion and al. [81], in 2016, presented a long-range graphene-based
explained the confinement of modes with the metal wires waveguide for the THz range. The proposed structure has
and found that the proposed metamaterial waveguide has two anisotropic clads surrounding the core, as shown in
a six-time lower loss as compared to the only anti- Fig. 16.
resonant fibers [78]. Another low loss and low dispersion By varying the core thickness and clad dielectric, the
hybrid THz waveguide was analyzed experimentally by propagation length and the confinement of the plasmons
Li et al. [79]. They fabricated a waveguide integrated on can be controlled. It is found that there is a trade-off
a single chip that contains silicon photonic crystals which between these two parameters. Also, by changing the
are sandwiched in between the parallel gold plates. It was chemical potential of graphene, these two parameters can
found experimentally that this proposed waveguide be adjusted. Thus, these waveguides can be used to
confines the THz radiation completely in the air channel. design electro-optical switches and logic gates [81].
The lowest attenuation constant achieved was below 0.05 Square graphene waveguides with small, normalized
dB/mm with the dispersion parameters values from 8.4 mode area and long propagation length [83] and
ps/GHz/mm to 0.9 ps/GHz/mm for the frequency range of plasmonic decoder based on graphene for the THz
0.36 THz to 0.411 THz. applications [84] are also introduced. Recently in 2021,
In 2022, Thackston et al. experimentally measured the Teng et al. analyzed the graphene-based dielectric-loaded
characteristics of a dielectric lined waveguide fabricated waveguides theoretically. Model losses, effective mode
by General Atomics (GA) for very low loss and low-cost index, and model properties of fundamental mode were
THz waveguide. The inner, outer, and length of the investigated. It was found that the effective index method
waveguide were 31.5 mm, 44.45 mm, and 1.07 m. The for analyzing the dielectric-loaded graphene waveguide is
interior of the waveguide was anodized with alumina to highly valid, and it can be used in applications such as
act as a dielectric coating of 82 µm thick. The lowest tunable integrated photonic devices [85]. Sun et al. has
attenuation constant achieved was 0.02 dB/m [80] presented an entirely novel hybrid graphene plasmonic
Remarks: These waveguides have the lowest waveguide for future THz field programmable arrays.
transmission loss as compared to the other metallic The primary component of the waveguide is a simple
waveguides. The attenuation constant is considerably gap-slot area. Under the right conditions, this
lowered with the additional layer, allowing hybrid mode waveguide's transmission distance is an order of
propagation. The thickness of the dielectric decides the magnitude greater than that of a conventional waveguide
propagation mode, either TE01 or HE01. However, this while maintaining the benefit of high-energy confinement
coating introduces interference peaks, and operation [86].
bandwidth is limited. So, it is essential to design Remarks: Graphene-based waveguides for THz is an
optimized coating thickness. Another drawback of inner emerging technology, and a lot of research gap is to be
coating is that it adds absorption losses. It can be resolved filled. Recent studies show that graphene-based devices
by using meta-material cladding as bending. have better performance characteristics as compared to
silver or gold. Chemical and electric variations can
B. Graphene-Based THz Waveguides change their parameters. Due to these facilities, as well as
Graphene is a new two-dimensional material made up low loss propagation, graphene has been focused on by
of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure. If many researchers for THz waveguides.
graphene is dropped, it can transmit very low-loss
plasmons in frequencies smaller than optical photon C. Other Hybrid Waveguides
frequency. It is shown in the studies that graphene-based Besides these, a number of hybrid waveguides are
plasmonic devices are better than gold and silver in terms proposed for terahertz spectrum applications. In 2018, a
of performance, and graphene can confine the electric quantum-cascaded laser source based on a double metal
field of plasmonic mode several times better than metals waveguide was reported by Kim et al., as shown in Fig.
[81]. 17(a). Terahertz modes in the active region of the device

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

were highly confined, and along the entire length of the scientifically. These wires have low dispersions and low
waveguide, the extraction of terahertz radiations was loss in the THz region because the mode is expanded
effective [87]. around the wire in the air and not bounded. The hollow
A year later, another design was proposed and metallic waveguide has propagation modes TE or TM
fabricated for the quantum cascaded laser with double confined in the metallic walls (structure), thus having
metal waveguides. For the reduction of the losses, an Ag- very high loss due to finite conductivity with metals at
based dual metal waveguide (DMW) was used, and it was the THz frequency range. Parallel plate waveguides have
shown that Ag-based DMW reduces the losses by about the advantage of TEM mode, they have no cut-off
2-4 cm−1 compared with the Au-based DMW. The design frequency, so they offer dispersion-free propagation.
was based on the three and four quantum well Their propagation mode is confined between the plates in
GaAs/Al0.15Ga0.85As active module, as shown in Fig. one direction, so they have low losses as compared to
17(b) [88]. circular or rectangular metallic waveguides. The bare
The pros, cons, and the solution to mitigate or improve wire and parallel plate have undistorted wave propagation
the cons of the above-discussed hybrid-clad waveguides at the THz range. The dielectric coating can be done to
are given in Table III. solve the confinement issue in the metallics waveguide.
In the dielectric waveguides, the main loss is due to the
material absorption, so it is important to use the proper
material to transmit THz pulses. In the hollow core
dielectric waveguides, this absorption is almost zero
because mostly the radiation propagates through the air,
making them suitable for sensing applications. The
disadvantage of these waveguides is that their size is
larger, so they cannot be used in integrated THz devices,
and due to their large core size, they exhibit multimode.
(a) By reducing the core size, the single mode can be
achieved, but attenuation loss will be increased. So, there
is a trade-off between the mode and the attenuation. A
properly optimized core size must be chosen. Solid core
dielectric fiber faces high absorption as all the THz
radiation propagates through the dielectric material. The
loss in these waveguides mainly depends on the material,
so one way to mitigate the losses is to use the proper low-
(b) loss dielectric material such as Cyclin Olefin Copolymer
Fig. 17. (a) Schematic of THz QLC with double metal [87] (b) SEM (COC). Another solution to reduce this loss is to reduce
image of THZ QLC with Ag-Ag double metal from [88]. the dimensions of a waveguide to the sub-wavelength
waveguide allowing the mode to propagate through the
TABLE III: PROS, CONS, AND SOLUTIONS OF DIFFERENT HYBRID-CLAD
WAVEGUIDES air. The third category of dielectric THz waveguides,
Dielectric-lined porous waveguides, have air pores, and they offer very
Graphene-based clad waveguide
Waveguide low absorption loss as there is less interface of THz
radiation with the dielectric material. Also, a porous
Type waveguide offers low bending loss and better radiation
confinement. As compared to the solid-core fibers,
porous dielectric waveguides have lower frequency-
Controllable propagation dependent dispersion and loss. However, birefringence is
Low loss,
Pros characteristics, produced when any discontinuity is introduced in the
Hybrid mode
Low loss and dispersion
waveguide.
Interference limits Mass production is very
Cons Hybrid-clad THz waveguides are the waveguides with
the bandwidth expensive and complex
Need more technological the lowest losses due to the additional dielectric layer
Solution Optimized coating
advancement with the metal. The dielectric waveguide thickness
determines the mode in the waveguide, either TE01 or
VII. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION HE01. However, introducing the dielectric coating adds
interference peaks, so it is very important to optimize the
THz waveguides proposed for low loss are divided into thickness of the dielectric coating. Additionally, this
three major categories according to their material: dielectric layer also introduces absorption loss. Adding
metallic, dielectric, and hybrid. They are further metamaterial to the cladding also adds more advantages,
classified according to the structure and configuration as such as improving the field confinement and lower loss.
explained in the previous sections. Graphene-based clad waveguides recently attracted
Among the metallic waveguides, solid bare metallic researchers due to their unique properties, such as their
wires have a low loss because the wire acts as a rail for tunable electric, magnetic, and chemical properties. It has
the TM-01 guided mode; thus, ohmic losses are reduced been shown that these waveguides have better

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

performance than gold and silver. Still, a lot of research is almost fabricated and with experimental analysis such as
needed on these waveguides, especially for mass in [25, 28, 41], etc. However, due to the expensive
production and fabrication techniques. equipment and availability of THz devices, and
It can be critically analyzed that each type of THz fabrication facilities in the research institutes of
waveguide has advantages and disadvantages of its own. developing and underdeveloped countries, young
Metallic waveguides offer low loss but are bulky and researchers interested in the THz field are contributing
frequency-dependent, while dielectric waveguides have using simulation work, numerical studies, and ideas as in
the advantages of miniaturization and frequency [29, 38, 78], etc. This is also one of the major reasons that
independence but are limited by signal dispersion and limits the practical verification and implementation of
low power handling capacity. Hybrid THz waveguides THz devices and waveguides. No doubt, the availability
can take advantage of both metallic and dielectric along of economical THz devices will boost the research in the
with low losses. However, they are complex, expensive, THz field and innovations.
and have integration challenges. Graphene THz seems to Table IV shows the summarized properties of different
override other materials due to its tunability and compact waveguides proposed for the terahertz frequency range. A
design, but it is still under research and faces several number of proposed low-loss waveguides for THz are
challenges to cover. The selection of a waveguide countless, so just for reference, one example of each
dependents on the specific requirements of the category discussed above is mentioned in Table.
application, taking into consideration factors like The above-discussed low-loss and low-dispersion
propagation loss, bandwidth, constraints on size, and waveguides can be used for future communication
integration capability. The performance and versatility of networks such as 6G and beyond. As these waveguides
THz waveguides might be further improved by ongoing can stream the data using the terahertz spectral region,
work in materials science and nanotechnology. they can meet the never-ending demand for a high-speed
The waveguides discussed in the above study are data rate (terabits per second).

TABLE IV: SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT WAVEGUIDES PROPOSED FOR THZ RANGE

S. Attenuation Dispersion
Waveguide Type Dimension Material
No. loss loss

Bare Wire
1 Metallic D =0.9 mm Steel <0.03 cm-1 Almost zero
[25]

2 Hollow Metallic Tube [89] Metallic D=280 µm Copper < 1 cm-1 1 ps to 40 ps

b= 500 µm
3 Parallel Plate [41] Metallic aluminum 0.1 cm-1 0.9 to 150 ps
a= 25 mm

D=9 mm
4 Hollow dielectric pipe [90] Dielectric Teflon <0.02 cm-1 --
L=3 m

D=150, 250,325
5 Solid dielectric fiber [53] Dielectric Sapphire <6 cm-1 0.6 to 13 ps
µm

D=560, 600, 760

6 Porous Dielectric [91] Dielectric COC 0.007 cm-1 --
µm

Dielectric-lined waveguide Dielectric lined

7 D=200 µm PE < 0.64 cm-1 2 to 3 ps
[92] (Hybrid)

Graphene-based clad
8 Graphene -- Graphene Very low Very low
waveguide [82]

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The waveguides discussed above show low loss and have the facility to fabricate compact devices for the THz
low dispersion at the THz frequency range, thus opening range. Researchers worldwide are pushing efforts
the door for utilizing them in next-generation collectively and collaborating to utilize this unused THz
communication networks such as 6G. THz spectrum is range of spectrum efficiently.
released now by the Federal Communication Commission
(FCC) and will be utilized in 6G. The absorption VIII. CONCLUSION
properties of the terahertz frequency range limit its
THz is an unexplored virtual spectrum with numerous
communication application to a few meters, especially in
fundamental research problems and technical applications.
foggy weather, because water is the best absorptive
This range is a promising solution to the spectrum
material at these THz frequencies, so wireless
scarcity and high-speed data rate, highly sensitive sensing
transmission of THz seems impractical or will take high
and scanning, 5G, 6G, and beyond. To expand the THz
cost as the cell coverage area decrease, and a number of
capabilities, efforts are taken to investigate the guided
cells with increased of installation cost, lack of labor
propagation of THz pulses and the feasibility of different
expertise and congested urban areas can be the problems
waveguides for proper propagation of the THz pulses.
for 6G implementation. The above-discussed waveguide
This study discusses a brief review of the different
can be the best candidate and the solution to propagate
low-loss waveguides proposed for the THz. The
the THz range for high-speed communication for long
performance parameters such as losses and dispersion for
distances with low cost, low loss, and low dispersion,
different waveguides are discussed with their
especially in the mid-haul and backhaul network.
experimental arrangements. The procedure and types of
The 6G network requires a data rate in the terabits per
terahertz spectroscopy characteristics are also briefly
second, which is 100 times greater than 5G. Optical fiber
defined.
has the tendency to support a huge amount of data
The propagation properties mainly depend on the
required for the 6G, but still, optical fiber systems and
material as they are reflected by the metals and highly
their implementation are limited because of their capital
absorbed in water. They propagate in the air freely with
cost, labor expertise, congested urban areas, and further
minimum loss. Therefore, the selection of material is very
complications. Above discussed waveguides can solve
important in designing a waveguide that allows the
this issue, and metallic copper wires, fibers, or hybrids
terahertz radiation to be confined and propagated mainly
that are already installed in the infrastructure, as shown in
through the air. Losses are also caused by bending and
Fig. 18, can be utilized to overcome this problem
discontinuities, so different techniques are employed to
discussed above and have the capability to provide the
tackle this issue. Metamaterial and Graphene-based
very high data rate in terabit per second. Thus, issues of
waveguides are in the initial phase of development and
implementation of the 6G network can be reduced as
have the potential to be low-loss waveguides for the THz
these waveguides can be utilized, and there is no
waveguides. It can be used to transmit the terahertz
necessity to install or implant new fibers to implement the
spectrum efficiently and utilized for future
6G services.
communication technologies such as 6G and beyond.
Therefore, it can be a reasonable research direction for
the future THz waveguide.
The main aim of reviewing this article is to analyze
and compare the existing approaches for guiding THz
radiation. The research community will appreciate
knowing more about the low-loss THz waveguide's
development in this area. This article is motivation
especially for young researchers to investigate more and
Fig. 18. Fiber to the distribution point (FTTdp) architecture. contribute to their progress in this field. No doubt,
research is a never-ending process, and researchers
There is a lot of research gap in this field to utilize the
continuously work on obtaining the low loss waveguides
efficient transmission medium at a very high frequency,
that can properly be used at the terahertz frequency range
especially the THz frequency range, which can be used
for various applications.
for different applications. THz will no doubt bring
revolution in the near future and will open the room for CONFLICT OF INTEREST
new applications in medical imaging, detection, quality
inspection, high-speed communication, and so on. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Designing an efficient waveguide for the THz
transmission is still challenging. The unavailability of AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
THz mixers, modulators, and other high-speed devices Arslan Ahmed is the primary author of this paper, and
also makes it difficult for researchers in the investigation he has written the entire paper, compiled all necessary
and testing phase. The THz spectroscopy setup is also information, and presented it in an understandable
unavailable in many research institutes, especially in manner. Fauziahanim Che Seman and See Khee have
developing and under-developing countries, which also supervised and suggested relevant research papers and
reduces the progress speed in this research area. provided guidance on the scope and the focus of the
Technological advancement fabricates compact devices review. Noor Azura and Izhar have provided guidance on
for high-speed range, so researchers worldwide will soon

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

the overall structure, organization, and formatting of the rings,” in Proc. of 2018 Fifth International Conf. on Millimeter-
Wave and Terahertz Technologies, 2018. DOI:
paper. 10.1109/MMWaTT.2018.8661245
[13] N. Akter, M. M. Hasan, and N. Pala, “A review of THz
FUNDING technologies for rapid sensing and detection of viruses including
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This research was supported by Ministry of Higher [14] M. Ikram, K. Sultan, M. F. Lateef, and A. SM Alqadami, “A road
Education Malaysia (MOHE) through Fundamental towards 6G communication—A review of 5G antennas, arrays,
Research Grant Scheme, and wearable devices,” Electronics, vol. 11, no. 1, #169, 2022.
FRGS/1/2020/TK0/UTHM/03/17, and Research [15] H. Chen, H. Sarieddeen, T. Ballal, H. Wymeersch, M-S Alouini,
Management Centre (RMC) through TIER Grant (Q379), and T. Y. Al-Naffouri, “A tutorial on terahertz-band localization
for 6G communication systems,” IEEE Communications Surveys
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) and & Tutorials, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 1780–1815, 2022.
Communication of this research is made possible through [16] J. C. Wiltse, “Low-loss surface-wave propagation on coated or
monetary assistance by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn uncoated cylindrical conductor from 0.1 to 1 THz,” in Proc. of
Malaysia and the UTHM Publisher’s Office via 2007 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International
Publication Fund E15216. Symposium, 2007, pp. 4657–4660.
[17] L. F. Shi, A. Zahid, A. Ren et al., “The perspectives and trends of
THz technology in material research for future communication-a
ACKNOWLEDGMENT comprehensive review,” Physica Scripta, vol. 98, no. 6, 2023.
DOI 10.1088/1402-4896/accd9d
This research was supported by Ministry of Higher [18] L. Z. Tang, J. Y. Zhao, Z. H. Dong et al., “Towards remotely
Education Malaysia (MOHE) through Fundamental directional transmission of terahertz wave in air: The concept of
Research Grant Scheme, FRGS/1/2020/TK0/UTHM/ free-space photonic crystal waveguide,” Optics & Laser
03/17, and Research Management Centre (RMC) through Technology, vol. 141, #107102, 2021.
TIER Grant (Q379), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn [19] J. F. Lampin, G. Mouret, S. Dhillon, and J. Mangeney, “THz
spectroscopy for fundamental science and applications,”
Malaysia (UTHM) and Communication of this research is Photoniques, Mar. 2020. doi: 10.1051/photon/202010133
made possible through monetary assistance by Universiti [20] L. Xue X. Sheng, H. Jia, and S. Lou, “Single-polarization low loss
Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia and the UTHM Publisher’s Terahertz Hollow-Core Anti-Resonant Fiber with high
Office via Publication Fund E15216.. Polarization Loss Ratio,” Optics Communications, vol. 537,
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“Silver/polystyrene-coated hollow glass waveguides for the waveguide,” Procedia Technology, vol. 11, pp. 1117–1121, 2013.
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Letters, vol. 90, no. 11, #113514, 2007. Arslan Ahmed was born in Larkana, Pakistan
[75] A. Munir and A. Setiawan, “Transmission loss reduction of in 1992. He received his Bachelor of Engg.
circular terahertz waveguide using dielectric-lined method,” Degree in Electronic Engineering from the
International Journal on Electrical Engineering & Informatics Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering,
vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 377–385, 2013. Science, and Technology, Nawabshah,
[76] B. S. Sun, X. L. Tang, X. Zeng, and Y. W. Shi, “Characterization Pakistan in 2015. And he received his Master
of cylindrical terahertz metallic hollow waveguide with multiple of Engineering degree from Sukkur IBA
dielectric layers,” Applied Optics, vol. 51, no. 30, pp. 7276–7285, University, Pakistan in 2020. Currently, He is
Oct. 2012. doing his Ph.D. Degree in Universiti Tun
Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Johor,
[77] H. Li, S. Atakaramians, R. Lwin, X. Tang et al., “Flexible single-
Malaysia. His current research interest is in THz waveguide
mode hollow-core terahertz fiber with metamaterial cladding,”
characterization, Antenna design, and material characterization.
Optica, vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 941–947, 2016.
[78] J. Sultana, M. S. Islam, C. MB. Cordeiro et al., “Terahertz hollow
core antiresonant fiber with metamaterial cladding,” Fibers, vol. 8, Fauziahanim Che Seman received the degree
no. 2, #14, 2020. in electrical communication engineering from
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2001, the
[79] H. Li, M. X. Low, R. T. Ako, M. Bhaskaran et al., “Terahertz
integrated photonic chip based on metal/dielectric hybrid master’s degree from Universiti Tun Hussein
waveguide,” in Proc. Conf. on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Pacific Onn Malaysia in 2003, and the Ph.D. degree
Rim, 2020. DOI: 10.1364/CLEOPR.2020.C9B_5 from the Queen’s University of Belfast, U.K.,
in 2011. After the Master’s degree, she joined
[80] K. A. Thackston, J. Doane, J. Anderson, M. Chrayteh, and F. the Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Hindle, “Measurement of dielectric-lined waveguides for low-loss
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia as a
mm-wave and THz transmission,” in Proc. 2022 47th
Lecturer, where she is currently an Associate Professor with the
International Conf. on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves,
Research Center of Applied Electromagnetic. She has published a
2022. DOI: 10.1109/IRMMW-THz50927.2022.9895643
number of index journals and conference proceedings and taken various
[81] M. Derakhshi and D. Fathi, “Graphene-based surface plasmon patents. Her research interests include radar microwave absorber,
waveguide with the anisotropic clad,” in Proc. 2016 24th Iranian frequency selective surface, antenna design, copper access networks and
Conf. on Electrical Engineering, 2016, pp. 1954–1958. recently in machine learning. She was also involved in the organizing
[82] Q. Tang, L. Zhou, Y. P. Zhang, and J. F. Mao, “Propagation committee for various conferences, such as the Technical Chair for the
characteristics of graphene-based rectangular waveguides in IEEE APMC 2017, IEEE RFM and IEEE APACE Conference series,
Terahertz band,” in Proc. 2014 3rd Asia-Pacific Conf. on AWPT 2021 and ISAP 2023. She was the Chairman of IEEE
Antennas and Propagation, 2014, pp. 745–748. AP/MTT/EMC Malaysia Section in 2017-2020 and currently served as
[83] R. Xing and S. Jian, “The graphene square waveguide with small the Past Chair in the same chapter. She is the MTT-S WiM
normalized mode area,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. subcommittee since 2018 and actively initiated discussions related to
29, no. 19, pp. 1643–1646, 2017. Women in Microwave Engineering in Malaysia. Recently, she started to
[84] M. H. Rezaei and A. Zarifkar, “Transmission characteristics of a be involved with a Community Service Related (CSR) project funded
graphene-based plasmonic decoder for THz applications,” in Proc. under IEEE HAC Project.
of 2018 9th International Symposium on Telecommunications,
2018, pp. 320–323.
[85] D. Teng and K. Wang, “Theoretical analysis of terahertz See Khee Yee a principal researcher in
dielectric–loaded graphene waveguide,” Nanomaterials, vol. 11, Research Center for Applied Electromagnetic,
#210, 2021. Institute of Integrated Engineering and lecturer
[86] L. Sun, L. Huang, Y. Wang et al., “Ultra-low loss graphene in the Department of Communication
plasmonic waveguide for chip-scale terahertz communication,” Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and
IEEE Photonics Journal, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 1–6, 2021. Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun
[87] H. H. Kim, S. Jung, Y. Jiang et al., “Double-metal waveguide Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). She received
terahertz difference-frequency generation quantum cascade lasers his PhD from the Faculty of Electrical and
with surface grating outcouplers,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun
113, no. 16, #161102,2018. Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) in 2015. Her
research interests include shielding effectiveness, dielectric
[88] R. Khabibullin, D. Ushakov, A. Afonenko et al., “Silver-based
double metal waveguide for terahertz quantum cascade laser,” in measurement techniques and and its application in microwave sensing.
Proc. of International Conf. on Micro-and Nano-Electronics 2018,
2019, pp. 14–21. Noor Azura Awang received a degree in
industrial physics from Universiti Teknologi
[89] G. Gallot, S. P. Jamison, R. W. McGowan, and D. Grischkowsky,
Malaysia in 2004, a master’s degree from
“Terahertz waveguides,” JOSA B, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 851–863,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2007, and a
May 2000.
PhD from the Universiti Malaya in 2012. After
[90] C. H. Lai, Y. C. Hsueh, H. W. Chen et al., “Low-index terahertz her master’s degree, she joined the Faculty of
pipe waveguides,” Optics Letters, vol. 34, no. 21, pp. 3457–3459, Applied Sciences and Technology, Universiti
Nov. 2009. Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia as a Lecturer. She
[91] S. Atakaramians, S. Afshar, B. M. Fischer, D. Abbott, and T. M. is currently an associate professor with the
Monro, “Low loss, low dispersion and highly birefringent Research Center of Photonics Sensor and Devices. She has published
terahertz porous fibers,” Optics communications, vol. 282, no. 1 , several index journals and conference proceedings. Her research
pp. 36–38, 2009. interests include optical fiber laser application, terahertz application and
[92] H. Nusantara, A. Setiawan, and A. Munir, “Investigation of optical fiber sensor.
dielectric-lined for transmission loss reduction of optical

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 International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications Vol. 13, No. 1, 2024

Izhar Ahmed received the B.E degree in

Department of Electronic Engineering from
Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering,
Science, and Technology, Larkana campus in
2014 and complete his master degree in
telecommunication engineering from NED
University, Karachi, Pakistan in 2019. He is
currently pursuing Ph.D. degree in Univisiti
Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Malaysia. His
current research interest includes antenna design,
waveguides and microwave sensors.

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