Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We request a tunable terahertz laser system complimented with the fast detection package. The equipment is intended for the research in the ultrafast wireless THz communications, which is a new frontier both for the microwave communication specialists and for the traditional optical communications specialists. Considering that no significant amount of free bandwidth remains available below ~300 GHz in North America, a spectral shift towards higher frequencies, namely the terahertz (THz) range, seems today unavoidable. Due to the lack of free and unregulated bandwidth, the steadily increasing demand for higher data rates will bring about communication systems operated in the THz frequency range in the foreseeable future.THz communications constitutes the main research direction for Prof. Skorobogatiy group in the following 5-10 years. Purchase of the requested equipment is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for the success of two research grants that were awarded in 2014 to Prof. Skorobogatiy in the area of THz communications. One is a Discovery grant that provides operational funding for research in design and fabrication of various enabling hardware components for the ultra-fast THz communication systems. These include: fast THz modulators, steering THz optics, tunable THz mirrors and filters, as well as programmable optical components for analog processing of the wireless THz signal (differentiators, integrators, etc.). The second project is Research Chair of Ecole Polytechnique that aims at establishing a multi-departmental research effort at Ecole Polytechnique with a short-term goal of deployment and testing of a small-scale THz communication system prototype with multi Gbs transmission rate. This project is a collaborative effort between Engineering Physics department, Electrical Engineering department, and the Center for the Research in Radiofrequency Electronics (CRÉER) at Ecole Polytechnique.