Fundamental Performance Limits on Terahertz Wireless Links Imposed by Group Velocity Dispersion

A theoretical framework and numerical simulations quantifying the impact of atmospheric group velocity dispersion (GVD) on wireless terahertz communication link error rate were developed based upon experimental work. This article presents, for the first time, predictions of symbol error rate (SER) as a function of link distance, signal bandwidth, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and atmospheric conditions, revealing that long-distance, broadband terahertz communication systems may be limited by intersymbol interference stemming from GVD, rather than attenuation. In such dispersion limited links, increasing signal strength does not improve the SER and, consequently, theoretical predictions of SER based only on SNR are invalid for the broadband case. This article establishes a new and necessary foundation for link budget analysis in future long-distance terahertz communication systems that accounts for the nonnegligible effects of both attenuation and dispersion.