We present a simple and cost-effective method for the fabrication of optical elements in the terahertz regime. Caramelized sucrose is used as the refractive medium in the frequency range from 0.1 to 0.4 THz. The absorption coefficient of 7 cm(-1) and the high index of refraction of 2.45 at 0.3 THz enables the fabrication of thin optical elements in the near-millimeter wavelength range. The THz beam profiles of the fabricated parabolic lens in focus, evaluated with terahertz pulsed imaging, show the near diffraction limit performance. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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