On-chip topological beamformer for multi-link terahertz 6G to XG wireless

Wenhao Wang, Yi Ji Tan, Thomas CaiWei Tan, Abhishek Kumar, Prakash Pitchappa, Pascal Szriftgiser, Guillaume Ducournau and Ranjan Singh ()
Additional contact information
Wenhao Wang: Nanyang Technological University
Yi Ji Tan: Nanyang Technological University
Thomas CaiWei Tan: Nanyang Technological University
Abhishek Kumar: Nanyang Technological University
Prakash Pitchappa: Agency for Science, Technology and Research
Pascal Szriftgiser: Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules
Guillaume Ducournau: Institut d’Electronique, Microélectronique et Nanotechnologie
Ranjan Singh: Nanyang Technological University

Nature, 2024, vol. 632, issue 8025, 522-527

Abstract: Abstract Terahertz (THz) wireless communication holds immense potential to revolutionize future 6G to XG networks with high capacity, low latency and extensive connectivity. Efficient THz beamformers are essential for energy-efficient connections, compensating path loss, optimizing resource usage and enhancing spectral efficiency. However, current beamformers face several challenges, including notable loss, limited bandwidth, constrained spatial coverage and poor integration with on-chip THz circuits. Here we present an on-chip broadband THz topological beamformer using valley vortices for waveguiding, splitting and perfect isolation in waveguide phased arrays, featuring 184 densely packed valley-locked waveguides, 54 power splitters and 136 sharp bends. Leveraging neural-network-assisted inverse design, the beamformer achieves complete 360° azimuthal beamforming with gains of up to 20 dBi, radiating THz signals into free space with customizable user-defined beams. Photoexciting the all-silicon beamformer enables reconfigurable control of THz beams. The low-loss and broadband beamformer enables a 72-Gbps chip-to-chip wireless link over 300 mm and eight simultaneous 40-Gbps wireless links. Using four of these links, we demonstrate point-to-4-point real-time HD video streaming. Our work provides a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible THz topological photonic integrated circuit for efficient large-scale beamforming, enabling massive single-input multiple-output and multiple-input and multiple-output systems for terabit-per-second 6G to XG wireless communications.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07759-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:632:y:2024:i:8025:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07759-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07759-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().