Smirnov Serguei, Lioubtchenko Dmitri V, Oberhammer Joachim
Department of Micro and Nanosystems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Malvinas väg 10, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Nanoscale. 2019 Aug 8;11(31):14691-14697. doi: 10.1039/c9nr02705j.
The ability to efficiently transmit and manipulate high-frequency signals poses major challenges resulting in a lack of active and reconfigurable millimeter-wave and terahertz devices that are needed to enable beyond-5G broadband communication systems. Here, thin single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) layers are introduced as a tunable impedance surface for millimeter-waves. Carbon nanotube layers are integrated with dielectric rod waveguides. Their surface impedance, tuned by light, is shown to modify the wave propagation inside the waveguide. A direct application of the effect is a phase shifter, demonstrated experimentally and by numerical simulations. Additionally, an antenna array of two dielectric waveguides, one covered in SWCNTs, is designed and fabricated. The proof-of-concept illustrates optically-controlled beam steering enabled by carbon nanotubes, and directions for further device optimizations are provided. These findings demonstrate thin SWCNT layers as an optically-reconfigurable element, suitable for broadband millimeter-wave communications.
高效传输和操纵高频信号的能力带来了重大挑战，导致缺乏实现超越5G宽带通信系统所需的有源和可重构毫米波及太赫兹器件。在此，引入了薄单壁碳纳米管（SWCNT）层作为毫米波的可调阻抗表面。碳纳米管层与介质棒形波导集成。通过光调谐的表面阻抗被证明可改变波导内的波传播。该效应的直接应用是一种移相器，通过实验和数值模拟得到了验证。此外，设计并制造了一个由两个介质波导组成的天线阵列，其中一个覆盖有SWCNT。概念验证展示了由碳纳米管实现的光控波束转向，并提供了进一步优化器件的方向。这些发现证明了薄SWCNT层作为一种光可重构元件，适用于宽带毫米波通信。
