Terahertz metamaterials

Terahertz gap

Engineering

Bandwidth (computing)

Materials science

Telecommunications

Computer science

Antenna (radio)

Acoustics

Laser

Physics

Dielectric

Optics

Antenna array

Terahertz radiation

Electronic engineering

Array gain

Antenna efficiency

Far-infrared laser

Dipole antenna

Optoelectronics

Electrical engineering

APL Photonics

The terahertz band holds a potential for point-to-point short-range wireless communications at sub-terabit speed. To realize this potential, supporting antennas must have a wide bandwidth to sustain high data rate and must have high gain and low dissipation to compensate for the free space path loss that scales quadratically with frequency. Here we propose an all-dielectric rod antenna array with high radiation efficiency, high gain, and wide bandwidth. The proposed array is integral to a low-loss photonic crystal waveguide platform, and intrinsic silicon is the only constituent material for both the antenna and the feed to maintain the simplicity, compactness, and efficiency. Effective medium theory plays a key role in the antenna performance and integrability. An experimental validation with continuous-wave terahertz electronic systems confirms the minimum gain of 20 dBi across 315–390 GHz. A demonstration shows that a pair of such identical rod array antennas can handle bit-error-free transmission at the speed up to 10 Gbit/s. Further development of this antenna will build critical components for future terahertz communication systems.

All-dielectric rod antenna array for terahertz communications