An illustration of a device capable of splitting a 6G terahertz beam into multiple channels. (Image credit: Getty Images/RobinOlimb)
The promise of high-speed 6G communications may lie in the use of flexible plates with attractive spiral patterns of carbon nanotubes designed to transmit terahertz (THz) signals.
In a recent study published April 30 in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, scientists demonstrated how layers of spiral zone plates can function as optical elements to control terahertz radiation. This is electromagnetic radiation with a frequency of 1 trillion hertz, which lies between the microwave and infrared ranges and is intended for applications in 6G communications, microscopy, and medicine.
Variable focusing Fresnel zone plates — devices with transparent and opaque concentric rings used to focus light and other waves — were created from a thin layer of carbon nanotubes arranged in a spiral pattern that can distort the wave of a terahertz beam passing through it. The new component can be seen here.
By combining two plates and rotating them relative to each other, the researchers changed the intensity distribution of the terahertz beam and divided it into several regions with different radiation intensities. This can be used to create multiple channels for high-speed information transmission.
Maria Burdanova, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Nano-Optics and Plasmonics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, explained in her commentary that the paper discusses an approach to overcoming the challenges associated with developing devices capable of using the terahertz spectral range, which will be critical for high-speed 6G communications in the future.
“One of the key features highlighting the potential of carbon nanotubes is the possibility of creating multifunctional devices with tunable properties that can be finely tuned using various effects at the atomic, supramolecular and micron levels,” Burdanova said in a statement. “For the first time, our joint team has managed to introduce an additional effect: the interaction of different nanotube patterns. This opens up new horizons for future devices.”
By creating sheets with spiral patterns of thin carbon nanotubes on a flexible and stretchable base, the sheets can then be stretched and oriented, tailoring them for specific manipulation of terahertz signals.
Tubular signals
At the moment, 6G is mostly in the early stages of development, despite a planned rollout by the GSMA in 2023. Until now, managing signals in the terahertz range has been difficult in both range and scale.
Therefore, there is a need to create components that can modulate and produce vortex terahertz beams that transmit data or beams that can be used as x-rays in medicine. This is why the development of a varifocal Fresnel zone plate based on focusing terahertz radiation through nanotubes is important.
Because the wafers can be layered, stretched and rotated, they could pave the way for THz-band tuning that can be tailored to different applications, rather than using disparate components for communications and medical tasks.
What’s more, using nanotubes allows engineers to create smaller, lighter, and more customizable components, which will be critical as 6G networks scale. With the ever-increasing need for more data at higher speeds for both business and leisure, 6G must be scalable enough to usher in the next generation of high-speed communications.
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