Terahertz Communications using Subwavelength Solid Core Fibers

Terahertz (THz) band is the next frontier for the ultra-high-speed communication systems. Currently, most of communications research in this spectral range is focused on wireless systems, while waveguide/fiber-based links have been less explored. Although free space communications have several advantages, the fiber-based communications provide superior performance in certain short-range communication applications. In this work, we study the use of subwavelength dielectric THz fibers for information transmission. Particularly, we use polypropylene-based rod-in-air subwavelength dielectric THz fibers of various diameters (0.57-1.75 mm) to study link performance as a function of the link length of up to ~10 m, and data bitrates of up to 6 Gbps at the carrier frequency of 128 GHz. Furthermore, we compared the power budget of the rod-in-air subwavelength THz fiber-based links to that of free space communication links and we demonstrate that fiber links offer an excellent solution for various short-range applications.