Terahertz Communications Using Effective-Medium-Slot Waveguides
Abstract
All-dielectric effective-medium-clad waveguides have been widely exploited in terahertz communications owing to their extremely low loss, low dispersion, and broad bandwidth. In this work, we propose a substrateless effective-medium-slot waveguide. Additionally, we introduce a taper-free interface that allows terahertz waves to directly couple from a metallic hollow waveguide without requiring dielectric insertion. By engineering slot couplers with an effectivemedium channel for impedance and modal matching, the waveguide achieves a fractional 3-dB bandwidth of 40% with a maximum coupling efficiency of 90% in the WR-2.2 band (330-500 GHz). By employing a broadband uni-traveling-carrier photodiode transmitter and sub-harmonic mixer receivers, we achieve an aggregated data rate of 0.8 Tbit/s with quadrature amplitude modulation schemes across 14 channels from 330-600 GHz. The effective-medium-slot waveguide platform yields robust broadband coupling with enhanced mechanical protection, offering reliable interconnects for ultra-high-speed terahertz integrated systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.08261,
title = {Terahertz Communications Using Effective-Medium-Slot Waveguides},
author = {Nguyen H. Ngo and Weijie Gao and Guillaume Ducournau and Hadjer Nihel Khelil and Rita Younes and Pascal Szriftgiser and Hidemasa Yamane and Yoshiharu Yamada and Shuichi Murakami and Withawat Withayachumnankul and Masayuki Fujita},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.08261},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
APL Engineering Physics