Potential new applications from ultrathin terahertz source

This is the claim of physicists from Sussex University who have developed an extremely thin, large-area semiconductor surface source of terahertz that is composed of a few atomic layers and is compatible with existing electronic platforms.

Terahertz sources emit brief light pulses oscillating at trillion of times per second, which is too fast to be handled by standard electronics, and, until recently, too slow for optical technologies. This is significant for the evolution of ultra-fast communication devices above the 300GHz limit - required for 6G mobile phone technology – and currently beyond the limit of existing electronics.

Researchers in the Emergent Photonics (EPic) Lab at Sussex, led by the director of the Emergent Photonics (EPic) Lab Professor Marco Peccianti, have previously achieved the brightest and thinnest surface semiconductor sources demonstrated so far.

Sussex team make EPic breakthrough with THz radiation

The emission region of their new development, a semiconductor source of terahertz, is said to be 10 times thinner than previously achieved, with comparable or even better performances.