Getting wired for terahertz computing

A step toward circuits for superfast far-infrared computers

Ajay Nahata, a University of Utah professor of electrical and computer engineering, with equipment he uses to test devices aimed at harnessing terahertz radiation -- also known as far-infrared light... Click here for more information.

University of Utah engineers took an early step toward building superfast computers that run on far-infrared light instead of electricity: They made the equivalent of wires that carried and bent this form of light, also known as terahertz radiation, which is the last unexploited portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

“We have taken a first step to making circuits that can harness or guide terahertz radiation,” says Ajay Nahata, study leader and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Eventually – in a minimum of 10 years – this will allow the development of superfast circuits, computers and communications.”

Electricity is carried through metal wires. Light used for communication is transmitted through fiberoptic cables and split into different colors or “channels” of information using devices called waveguides. In a study to be published Friday, April 18 in the online journal Optics Express, Nahata and colleagues report they designed stainless steel foil sheets with patterns of perforations that successfully served as wire-like waveguides to transmit, bend, split or combine terahertz radiation.

“A waveguide is something that allows you to transport electromagnetic radiation from one point to another point, or distribute it across a circuit,” Nahata says.

If terahertz radiation is to be used in computing and communication, it not only must be transmitted from one device to another, “but you have to process it,” he adds. “This is where terahertz circuits are important. The long-term goal is to develop capabilities to create circuits that run faster than modern-day electronic circuits so we can have faster computers and faster data transfer via the Internet.”