Integrated terahertz electromagnetic wave system.

摘要

A communication system for transmitting and receiving terahertz signals has a emitter employing a resonant radiating antenna (5) connected to an ultrafast switch (6). The switch (6) is a subpicosecond photoconducting switch coupled to a coplanar transmission line (11) having a pair of approximately 1 micron wide A1 lines deposited on an SOS substrate. The transmission line (11) is separated from the tip of the antenna (5) by a photoconducting gap forming the switch and is driven by a laser pulse. Utilizing the gap excitation principle, the transmitting antenna (5) radiates a freely propagating signal that may be received by an identical structure either on the same or on different substrates.