Communications using the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of radio waves have attracted much attention in recent years. In this paper, a novel millimeter-wave dual OAM mode antenna is cleverly designed, using which a 60 GHz wireless communication link with two separate OAM channels is experimentally demonstrated. The main body of the dual OAM antenna is a traveling-wave ring resonator using two feeding ports fed by a 90° hybrid coupler. A parabolic reflector is used to focus the beams. All the antenna components are fabricated by 3D printing technique and the electro-less copper plating surface treatment process. The performances of the antenna, such as S-parameters, near-fields, directivity and isolation between the two OAM modes are measured. Experimental results show that this antenna can radiate two coaxially propagating OAM modes beams simultaneously. The multiplexing and de-multiplexing are easily realized in the antennas themselves. The two OAM mode channels have good isolation of more than 20 dB, thus ensuring the reliable transmission links at the same time.

The proliferation of wireless broadband services have significantly raised the demand for high data rates. Due to the limited bandwidth of radio frequency (RF) bands that are currently in use for communication purposes, the choice of the 'Terahertz (THz) frequency region' (0.3-10 THz) is getting favored thanks to its merits of bringing together wireless and optical communications with photonics technologies. We report on an experimental demonstration of a hybrid THz photonic-wireless transmission based on a THz orthogonal polarization dual-antenna scheme. Probabilistic shaped 64-ary quadrature amplitude modulation based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (64QAM-OFDM) modulation format is used to realize high transmission rate. A potential total system throughput of 612.65 Gbit/s (around 2×300 Gbit/s line rate) with an average net spectral efficiency of 4.445 bit/s/Hz per antenna is successfully achieved.

In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate terahertz (THz) photonic wireless transmission of high-speed quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) and 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signals in the 350-GHz band, with an effort to extend the wireless reach of ultrafast 100 Gbit/s. In the experiment, a narrowband unitraveling-carrier photodiode (UTC-PD) is used for heterodyne generation of THz communication signals, which is transparent to optical modulation formats. Experimental results show that 30 GBd/s QPSK (60 Gbit/s) and 25 GBd/s 16-QAM signals (100 Gbit/s) are successfully transmitted over a 350-GHz wireless link with an extended distance of 2 m. This enhancement is enabled by combining the techniques of employing cutting-edge narrowband UTC-PD as the photomixing THz emitter, spectrally efficient modulation format and advanced digital signal processing algorithms. The achievement makes 100 Gbit/s THz wireless communication systems promising for future smart wireless services.

Wireless communication using electromagnetic wave carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) has attracted increasing interest in recent years and its potential to increase channel capacity has been explored widely. In this paper, we compare the technique of using uniform linear array consist of circular traveling-wave OAM antennas for multiplexing with the conventional multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) communication method and numerical results show that the OAM based MIMO system can increase channel capacity while communication distance is long enough. An equivalent model is proposed to illustrate that the OAM multiplexing system is equivalent to a conventional MIMO system with a larger element spacing, which means OAM waves could decrease the spatial correlation of MIMO channel. In addition, the effects of some system parameters, such as OAM state interval and element spacing, on the capacity advantage of OAM based MIMO are also investigated. Our results reveal that OAM waves are complementary with MIMO method. OAM waves multiplexing is suitable for long-distance line-of-sight (LoS) communications or communications in open area where the multi-path effect is weak and can be used in massive MIMO systems as well.

Photonics-aided terahertz (THz) wireless systems have been progressively developed to accommodate the forthcoming wireless communication with extremely high data rates in recent years. However, restrained by the obtainable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the dimensions explored in THz photonic wireless systems, achieving data rates of Tbit/s and beyond is still challenging. In this paper, we present a multi-dimensional multiplexing Tbit/s THz-over-Fiber wireless communication system, by efficiently benefiting from the multiplexing gain in both optical wavelength and space domains. Enabled by a combined routine of an optical frequency comb, a low inter-core crosstalk (IC-XT) multi-core fiber and advanced digital signal processing, a line rate of up to 1176 Gbit/s over a wireless distance of 10 m in the 350 GHz band is experimentally demonstrated without any THz amplifiers, resulting in a net data rate of up to 1059 Gbit/s. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that beyond Tbit/s wireless data rate is successfully achieved in the THz region above 300 GHz, making a significant contribution to the development of THz-over-Fiber systems for the sixth generation (6G) wireless communication.

Multifunctional convergence is one of the key physical features in future generation networks and Internet of things architectures. In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a unified terahertz (THz) system operating in the 300 GHz band, with a potential of simultaneously enabling high-speed communication and high-resolution ranging over a common optical infrastructure. Both THz communication and THz sensing signals are generated based on THz photonics and cutting-edge terahertz transceiver technologies. In the experiment, 16-quadrature amplitude modulation modulated THz signal is generated by photo-mixing two free running lasers for the communication, and linear frequency modulated (LFM) THz pulses are generated based on optical interferometer-based frequency-to-time mapping (FTM) for sensing. The experimental results show that up to 56 Gbit/s net rate is successfully transmitted over a 2 m free-space line-of-sight link, and the THz LFM pulses with a time-bandwidth product of up to 207 are successfully generated, which is potentially able to enable a cm-scale range resolution. We also investigate the frequency multiplexing schemes for two signals by changing the channel gap at the transmitter side. To the best of our knowledge, such a system represents the first demonstration of integrated generation system in the THz region above 300 GHz, which has great potential in prospective applications of future converged networks.