Metal mesh based metamaterials for millimetre wave and THz astronomy applications

Metal mesh technology has been employed for decades to build high performance filters working at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths. They have found a wide range of applications, mainly targeted to astronomical instrumentation. Mesh filters, dichroics, beam dividers and polarizers have been used in a multitude of ground based, balloon-borne and satellite projects. The technology is well proven and space qualified. The same technology can be used to develop more general quasi-optical devices able to manipulate and transform the electromagnetic field amplitude and phase across their surface. We summarize recent developments in this field discussing devices such as mesh Half Wave Plates, flat mesh lenses, polarization splitting devices and mesh prisms.