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Using the Terahertz Spectrum for Wireless Communication
holy_calamity writes "A first step to allowing wireless data transfer over a currently unused part of the electromagnetic spectrum is reported in New Scientist. Terahertz radiation exists between radio and infrared. A new filter created at the University of Utah can filter out particular frequencies, a prerequisite for using it for data. The abstract of the paper in the journal Nature is freely available."
I regularly work with equipment that produces signals up to 50 GHz and let me tell you... components get much higher in cost the higher in frequency they go. a 3 foot 40GHz cable can cost hundreds of dollars and a 100GHz connector can cost a thousand dollars or more on its own. I imagine that producing and transmitting signals in the terahertz range is not economically viable for most companies.
...so communication would have to be rather short-haul as in LAN.
Perhaps TFA should have mentioned that.
Wait...
Basically it says that putting the holes in a fractal pattern give much better results than holes in more 'normal' pattern. The rest is Calculus explaining how they can generate patterns that are really good at transmitting a certain frequency.
Sounds really interesting. I wonder if any of this applies to antenna design at average RF.
For the uninitiated, that is Nothing Really Amazing in Outerspace - Alien Life My Ass.
Karma police, arrest this man. He talks in math. He buzzes like a fridge. He's like a detuned radio.
or... it could be for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array - National Radio Astronomy Observatory :P
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/
Google can be your friend too.. .
All the better if he's dead on, that just saves the rest of us from having to RTFA!