According to Matthew Smith of IEEE Spectrum, telecommunications rely on electro-optic (EO) modulators to convert electrical signals into light for fiber-optic networks. As 6G networks aim for speeds up to a terabit per second, a breakthrough from ETH Zurich and Polariton Technologies has led to a plasmonic EO modulator that can handle frequencies up to 1.14 terahertz. This improvement enables faster, more efficient communication, which is crucial for 6G networks and AI data centers, which require high-speed data transmission. Smith writes:
Leuthold is coauthor of a paper recently published by researchers at ETH Zurich and Polariton Technologies in Switzerland that demonstrated a plasmonic EO modulator capable of frequencies up to 1.14 terahertz. It also provided 3-decibel EO bandwidth at a frequency of 997 gigahertz. Put more simply, the modulator can process signals up to nearly a terahertz before significant signal degradation occurs.
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