THz Communications and the Demonstration in the ThoR-Backhaul Link

This article provides a brief overview on THz communications and subsequently focuses on the application of 300 GHz backhaul and fronthaul links. The fundamentals, planning, and software simulation approaches as well as the realized bidirectional 300 GHz demonstrator built within the Horizon 2020 joint EU-Japan project ThoR are described. The ThoR demonstrator uses off-the-shelf modems for network connections and baseband processing, RF front-ends based on InGaAs mHEMT technology and a spurious-free/low-phase noise photonic solution for LO generation. With the ThoR set-up, a net data rate of 2 × 20 Gbps over a distance of 150 m using a total instantaneous bandwidth of 8.64 GHz has been demonstrated. It is also shown that the IEEE Std 802.15.3-2023 protocol works correctly for this application.