Summary: UCLA researchers led by Associate Professor Aydin Babakhani have developed a novel silicon chip component that enables rapid data transmission at high power efficiencies.
Background: Orbital angular momentum (OAM) has garnered significant attention recently as a novel dimension for electromagnetic signal transmission. Exploiting the inherent orthogonality of OAM waves enables multi-channel wireless communication, as these modes are independent of one another and do not interfere or overlap when they are properly separated and detected. This method of wireless transmission has higher rates of data transmission in addition to enhanced physical security. However, current hardware used to implement OAM is installed off-chip, bulky, and power-hungry. To spur broader adoption of this secure, high-speed method of data transmission, there is an unmet need to develop new on-chip, efficient systems.
Innovation: Researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a compact, power-efficient approach to generate multi-mode OAM waves on silicon chips. Their design uses a small antenna transmitter operating with three orthogonal OAM channels simultaneously. Taking up less than 5 mm2 of surface area, it operates at 360 GHz, higher than any other reported OAM device. This breakthrough lays a solid foundation for future high-capacity multi-channel communication systems with a wide array of applications, ranging from telecommunications to autonomous vehicle navigation.
Potential Applications: • High-speed communication systems • Satellite design • Autonomous vehicles • Low-latency wireless devices • Military and defense applications • Telecommunications
Advantages: • Multi-modal data transmission • Improved security • High data transfer speeds • On-chip circuitry
Development-To-Date: The system has been built and validated for performance and power consumption.
Reference: UCLA Case No. 2024-191
Lead Inventor: Associate Professor Aydin Babakhani, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering