A rice-sized microcomb chip could give 6G networks a flashy frequency boost.
According to ScienceDaily, a Loughborough University-led team has created a tiny chip that produces a stable “rainbow” of invisible light frequencies. These can be converted into multiple millimetre-wave signals simultaneously.
Millimetre waves offer more bandwidth, giving future networks more room to shovel data. The awkward bit has been generating them with enough precision and stability.
Loughborough University Emergent Photonics Research Centre Dr Luke Peters said the world was becoming increasingly data hungry.
“The world is becoming increasingly data hungry. We want to send and receive more information, faster and in higher resolution, and millimetre waves could help provide the capacity to do that,” Peters said.
Microcombs create precisely spaced light frequencies, a bit like the teeth of a comb rather than a messy rainbow. A specialised antenna can then convert those optical frequencies into millimetre waves.
Earlier work showed that microcombs could produce a single precise millimetre-wave frequency. The new system produces several simultaneously, which could give 6G networks multiple channels to play with.
“We’ve essentially created an incredibly precise and stable ‘rainbow on a chip’, where the loop keeps feeding the light back through the chip, allowing these states to build up efficiently, start on their own and remain stable even when the system is disturbed,” Peters said.
The trick is linking the chip-based microresonator to a larger loop of optical fibre. The laser light keeps circulating through both, helping the wanted optical states form and stay put.
The researchers reckon the technology could shrink from a tabletop setup into something shoebox-sized. That might make it useful for satellites, radar, navigation, quantum timing and other precision kit where bulk and power matter.
