Otago researchers develop ground-breaking communication technology
In the ongoing quest for better, faster and higher-quality wireless communication, University of Otago researchers are
leading the way.
Dr Amita Deb and Associate Professor Niels Kjærgaard, of the Department of Physics, have created world-leading
technology in the form of an optical antenna.
Their development, just published in acclaimed journal Applied Physics Letters, simplifies how we currently communicate wirelessly.
Dr Deb says the widespread use of smart phones and appliances have “fuelled an unprecedented demand for high bandwidth
wireless networks”. The emerging 5G network will feature greater bandwidth, but its signal is prone to significant
weakening and interference.
The optical antenna the Otago researchers have developed enables the transmission of high frequency signals, with the
advantage of being non-metallic, and with no electrical connection required, mitigating the issue of interference.
“You can communicate information without electrical interference. Because this is optical – just laser light, no metal,
no electronic connections – it is cleaner and clearer.
“Optical fibre cables can also transmit light hundreds of kilometres with very little loss,” Dr Deb says.
The technology interfaces wireless data with fibre optic data. It encodes a radio frequency signal within a laser beam –
via an antenna in the mere form of a glass bulb filled with atomic particles – which can be transported via fibre-optic
channels.
This would be like a radio station playing a song which is picked up by a laser beam, through a glass bulb, into an
optical fibre. At the end of the fibre, light is detected and the song comes out of a speaker.
The work was funded by grants from the Marsden Fund and Otago Innovation Limited, with the next step being to increase
the speed of the technology and reduce its size.
“The delivery of wireless data via optical fibre is a highly sought after technology in emerging high-speed technology
applications and people in the industry have been really excited about this development,” Associate Professor Kjærgaard
says.
He believes the optical antenna has military applications because it can’t be wiped out via an electro-magnetic pulse,
as well as in avionics. Miniaturised versions could also be used in biomedical settings such as electrophysiology, which
measures the electrical activity of cells and tissues including the heart and brain.
Publication details:
A. B. Deb & N. Kjærgaard
Applied Physics Letters