Polymer Microwave Fibers: A New Approach That Blends Wireline, Optical, and Wireless Communication

The demand for data communication capacity keeps increasing. Applications ranging from wireless and hand-held mobile electronics to big data centers and backbone infrastructure are driving the need. With 5G technology being deployed, the common trend for high-speed wireless communication is to shift the operating frequency toward the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) spectrum (30-300 GHz) and exploit the highly available bandwidth. This shift is driven by the continuous improvement of bulk CMOS and packaging technologies that enable the full integration of mm-wave radios. Copper wireline technology also continues the trend toward multilevel and multitone modulation for high-speed, short-distance communication links. Copper cables, however, are often complex, expensive, and prone to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Moreover, the required equalization techniques are power hungry. Optical communication benefits from low-loss glass optical fibers (GOFs) with enormous bandwidths, enabling trans-Atlantic communication. This technology, however, requires micrometer alignment precision and costly optical-electrical conversion.