In the electromagnetics spectrum, the terahertz (THz) frequency domain, ranging from 300 Gigahertz to 10THz, has remained elusive, underdeveloped, and underexploited for computing, communications, and signal processing due to a lack of enabling electronic and photonic technologies. Achieving THz communication and signal processing has posed a long-lasting, unresolved grand challenge in electrical and computer engineering that merits concerted and sustained endeavors to discover the opportunities THz technology can bring. THz wireless and signal processing hold the promise to transform the capability of portable devices in the home, in business, and in the clinic; to amplify achievable data rates in infrastructure deployments where wired connections are impossible; and to augment or even supplant expensive switching infrastructure in the data center. To realize such transformative engineered systems, this project will establish an institutional infrastructure to foster interdisciplinary research in computer science, electrical engineering, medicine and biology. The proposed infrastructure for THz signal processing is expected to spur numerous crosscutting experimental investigations.
The investigators of this project have been conducting cutting-edge experimental research in terahertz technology by pushing the edge of device speed from both electronics and optics ends of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Specifically, the equipment purchased with the CRI grant will be used in testing (i) emerging terahertz photonic devices, and (ii) enabling electronic technologies using newer materials such as GaN, SiGe and grapheme. Further, the equipment will be utilized in (iii) experimental characterization of ultra-fast transport phenomena in chalcogenide and transition metal materials (TMD), and (iv) investigation into link-layer and network-layer protocols for THz networking with specific applications in a datacenter environment. On one hand, the project will showcase the terahertz photonics technology by building the ultra-fast EM digital logic and analog-to-digital converter. On the other hand, the enabling electronic technology will engender sub-millimeter vertically and horizontally polarized beam-steering phase antennas operating in the sub-THz band and a 320 GHz phase-locked transmitter with conversion efficiency exceeding the state-of-the-art silicon THz radiators. At the computer system level, exploration into integration of THz channels with conventional electrical and photonic interconnects will be made to boost data communication rates to 100 Gbps and beyond. The equipment will also allow the investigators to study the ultrafast transport dynamics of material excitations and their interaction with the THz electromagnetic field. Finally, the equipment will be utilized in integration of research and education with a view to training future engineering workforce pulled in from a broad swath of the American society including minority and female students. Didactic materials developed from new engineering courses on terahertz will be disseminated to research communities and practicing engineers by leveraging the NSF sponsored nanoHub repository.
