Terahertz frequency communications

High data throughput wireless communication systems are central to our lives, livelihoods, and national security, with recent increases in remote working particularly emphasising the importance of high performance and resilient data communication systems. Data traffic is increasing exponentially, with the fastest-growing part of this increase being on wireless channels, as mobile users increasingly make use of online services.

This is unsustainable using state-of-the-art radio frequency and microwave systems, and further compounded by the shortage of allocable electromagnetic spectrum into which current radio frequency and microwave wireless communications can grow.

In this programme, we will develop the first integrated high throughput wireless communication systems operating at terahertz carrier frequencies, between 2-5 THz. The advantage of using a terahertz carrier relative to microwave frequency carriers is the much greater available bandwidth, and hence higher data rate, that can be supported. We aim to demonstrate a two orders-of-magnitude increase in data rates over state-of-the-art radio frequency and microwave systems, beyond 100 Gbit/s and towards 1 Tbit/s.

We will achieve these ambitious goals through the concurrent development of new and specialised terahertz sources, detectors, modulators, and signal control techniques, with specifications not only defined and evaluated in the context of the overall system requirements, but also individually refined throughout the programme in response to the performance and technical specification obtained for each component.