Integrated photonic and plasmonic technologies for microwave signal processing enabling mm-wave and sub-THz wireless communication systems

Abstract

In order to support the 1,000 times increase in data rates expected from next-generation wireless communications (5G), radically novel technological approaches will be needed. Integrated microwave photonics (IMWP) techniques are identified as an enabling technology for 5G, thanks to their potential to improve the performance of electronics by leveraging the broadband characteristics and flexibility of operation of photonic integrated circuits. Relevant applications of IMWP are optical signal generation and distribution of mm-waves towards antenna terminals, optical control of antenna arrays, frequency-reconfigurable filtering, and more. The rapidly growing field of plasmonics has shown a breakthrough in performance for optical modulators with fast operation (500 GHz) and ultra-compact footprint (10s μm2). This paper reports recent achievements on the use of integrated plasmonic devices for millimeter-wave signal conversion and processing for next-generation wireless systems.