Integrated dual-laser photonic chip for high-purity carrier generation enabling ultrafast terahertz wireless communications

Shi Jia,Deming Kong,Xianbin Yu,Jiajia Chen,Guillermo Carpintero,Toshio Morioka,Sergei Popov,Aleksejs Udalcovs,Shilin Xiao,Mu-Chieh Lo,Xiaodan Pang,Lu Zhang,Leif K Oxenløwe,Oskars Ozolins,Robinson Guzman,Hao Hu

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29049-2

Abstract

Photonic generation of Terahertz (THz) carriers displays high potential for THz communications with a large tunable range and high modulation bandwidth. While many photonics-based THz generations have recently been demonstrated with discrete bulky components, their practical applications are significantly hindered by the large footprint and high energy consumption. Herein, we present an injection-locked heterodyne source based on generic foundry-fabricated photonic integrated circuits (PIC) attached to a uni-traveling carrier photodiode generating high-purity THz carriers. The generated THz carrier is tunable within the range of 0–1.4 THz, determined by the wavelength spacing between the two monolithically integrated distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. This scheme generates and transmits a 131 Gbits−1 net rate signal over a 10.7-m distance with −24 dBm emitted power at 0.4 THz. This monolithic dual-DFB PIC-based THz generation approach is a significant step towards fully integrated, cost-effective, and energy-efficient THz transmitters.

Highlights

Photonic generation of Terahertz (THz) carriers displays high potential for THz communications with a large tunable range and high modulation bandwidth
The centralized optical frequency comb (OFC) can be distributed to each THz transmitter to perform injection locking
One laser output is modulated with a broadband signal, whereas the other remains unmodulated as a local oscillator (LO)

Summary

Introduction

Photonic generation of Terahertz (THz) carriers displays high potential for THz communications with a large tunable range and high modulation bandwidth. The generated THz carrier is tunable within the range of 0–1.4 THz, determined by the wavelength spacing between the two monolithically integrated distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. The generation of THz carriers using photonic techniques is interesting because of the large tuning range and high modulation bandwidth, enabling the generation of high-quality THz signals capable of carrying 100 Gbits−1 data rates and beyond[4]. Combining two single-wavelength distributed feedback (DFB) lasers in parallel with a coupler, the open foundry platform has recently proven the potential for heterodyne THz generation at frequencies >1.3 THz, potentially reducing the cost significantly. We demonstrate a single-channel THz photonicwireless transmission achieving both high data rate and relevant reach, with >100 Gbits−1 data rate and >10 m reach using a

Methods

Results

Conclusion