Terahertz photonic crystals based on barium titanate/polymer nanocomposites

A simple and potentially extremely versatile method to engineer the Thz RI of polymeric materials was investigated. PMMA was purchased from Arkema and used as received. BaTiO₃ nanoparticles were purchased from Inframat Advanced Materials and used as received. The appropriate amounts of polymer and nanoparticles were fed into the extruder for 5 min before extrusion. The volume fraction of the BaTiO₃ nanoparticles in the resulting nanocomposites was determined from the mass loss of the components using thermogravimetric analysis and their known densities. It was observed that polymeric materials with engineered RI for applications in the THz regime can readily be fabricated and processed by conventional melt-processing of inorganic nanomaterials and conventional host polymers.