Abstract-Frequency-division multiplexing in the terahertz range using a leaky-wave antenna

• Nicholas J. Karl,
• Robert W. McKinney,
• Yasuaki Monnai,
• Rajind Mendis
• & Daniel M. Mittleman

• 
  

Nature Photonics

 

(2015)

 

doi:10.1038/nphoton.2015.176

Received

 

09 February 2015 

Accepted

 

11 August 2015 

Published online

 

14 September 2015

http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphoton.2015.176.html

The idea of using radiation in the 0.1–1.0 THz range as carrier waves for free-space wireless communications has attracted growing interest in recent years, due to the promise of the large available bandwidth^1, 2. Recent research has focused on system demonstrations^3, 4, as well as the exploration of new components for modulation⁵, beam steering⁶ and polarization control⁷. However, the multiplexing and demultiplexing of terahertz signals remains an unaddressed challenge, despite the importance of such capabilities for broadband networks. Using a leaky-wave antenna based on a metal parallel-plate waveguide, we demonstrate frequency-division multiplexing and demultiplexing over more than one octave of bandwidth. We show that this device architecture offers a unique method for controlling the spectrum allocation, by variation of the waveguide plate separation. This strategy, which is distinct from those previously employed in either the microwave⁸ or optical⁹regimes, enables independent control of both the centre frequency and bandwidth of multiplexed terahertz channels.

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