Short Range 10 Gb/s THz Communications Proof of Concept Proposal
Abstract
This report results from a contract tasking University College London as follows: The range of frequency in the THz region would have a number of advantages for secure wireless communication. The stronger water absorption in that range of frequency compared to the standard wireless carriers induces shorter distances of transmission and render the signal to be enclosed within a building more easily. Furthermore it offers a wide unused bandwidth from 100 GHz to 1.5 THz for the system proposed. However the THz frequency range has long been difficult to exploit for practical applications because of the lack of cheap, compact, spectrally pure and power efficient sources. Semiconductor electronic sources above 300 GHz have only very small output. Current continuous wave (CW) photonic THz sources, such as the quantum cascade laser require liquid helium cooling and have minimum frequencies above the frequency range of interest (2THz ) when not using a magnetic field, while pulsed sources require bulky and expensive femtosecond pulse Ti-Sapphire lasers. Approaches based on heterodyning of optical sources with photo-conductive detectors have limited spectral purity (MHz linewidth), stability (10s of MHz) and power. In recent work, funded by EPSRC under the PRINCE project, we have explored photonic generation of THz signals using telecommunications-based technologies as a route to cheap, compact, highly efficient, room temperature sources. In particular we have developed waveguide hot-electron photodiodes with world record output powers at THz frequencies. We have combined these with work on optical frequency synthesis to realise a highly efficient (< 1W total electrical power input), spectrally pure (< 1 Hz linewidth), stable (Hz) and frequency agile source. The objective of the proposed project is to realise a proof of concept of a THz communication system by using this low power consumption source.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA524663
Entities
People
- Alwyn J. Seeds
- Chin-pang Liu
- Cyril Renaud
- Martyn Fice
Organizations
- University College London