EPFL and UNIGE (University of Geneva) scientists have developed a microchip that filters out unwanted radiation with the help of graphene. This technology could help wireless telecommunications share data at a rate that is ten times faster than what is currently possible.
This microchip works by protecting sources of wireless data - which are essentially sources of invisible radiation - from unwanted radiation, ensuring that the data remain intact by reducing source corruption.
Scientists discovered that graphene can filter out radiation in much the same way as polarized glasses. The vibration of radiation has an orientation. Like polarized glasses, this graphene-based microchip makes sure that radiation that only vibrates a certain way gets through. In this way, graphene is both transparent and opaque to radiation, depending on the orientation of vibration and signal direction. The EPFL scientists and their colleagues from Geneva used this property to create a device known as an optical isolator.
This microchip works in a frequency band that is currently empty, called the terahertz gap. Wireless devices work today by transmitting data in the gigahertz range or at optical frequencies. This is imposed by technological constraints, leaving the potential of the terahertz band currently unexploited for data transmission. If wireless devices could use this terahertz bandwidth, future mobile phones could potentially send or receive data tens of times faster than now, meaning better sound quality, better image quality and faster uploads.
This graphene-based microchip brings this terahertz technology a step closer to reality. This discovery addresses an important challenge that was so far unsolved due to lacking technologies, confirming once more the extraordinary physical properties of graphene.
