High Gain and Broadband Metalens Antenna for Terahertz Communication

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-gain, broadband metalens antenna transceiver for terahertz communication, achieving significant improvements in gain, bandwidth, and data rate, suitable for future 6G networks.

Contribution

It presents a novel metalens design integrated with a horn antenna, enabling high gain and wide bandwidth for THz communication systems.

Findings

Peak gain of 36.1 dBi at 0.244 THz

A 3 dB bandwidth exceeding 33 GHz

Supports data rates up to 100 Gbps

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) metalens antennas with compact planar structures have demonstrated significant potential in enhancing gain and aperture efficiency through beam convergence. However, research on THz wireless communication systems utilizing metalens antennas remains limited, primarily due to insufficient collaborative enhancement in gain and bandwidth in THz transceiver design. In this paper, we propose a high gain metalens antenna transceiver and demonstrate its application for THz communication. The system employs a horn antenna integrated with a 3D-printed bracket to enhance the metalens gain and operating bandwidth, where the metalens adopts a "sandwich" architecture composed of a V-shaped copper resonator, a dielectric substrate, and a grating. The resonant design inside the metalens facilitates high polarization conversion efficiency and full phase modulation across a 0{\deg} to 360{\deg} range at frequency between 0.20 to 0.30 THz band. Experimental results demonstrate a peak gain of 36.1 dBi and aperture efficiency of 54.45% at 0.244 THz, with a 3 dB bandwidth exceeding 33 GHz. A prototype communication system incorporating the metalens transceiver achieves a bit error rate (BER) reduction by three orders of magnitude compared to conventional horn antennas and supports a maximum data rate of 100 Gbps. This proposed metalens offer a high-gain, compact solution for achieving high data rate THz communications, driving advancements in 6G communication network.