Using ideas borrowed from topological photonics, researchers in Singapore, France and the US have designed a compact antenna capable of handling information-rich terahertz (THz) signals. Reporting their results in Nature Photonics, the team, led by Ranjan Singh at the University of Notre Dame, say that with further refinements, the design could help underpin future sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks, allowing data to be shared at unprecedented speeds.
Why 6G needs terahertz antennas
In the not-too-distant future, 6G networks are expected to enable data rates of around one terabit per second—the same as transferring roughly half the storage of a mid-range smartphone in a single second. Achieving such speeds will require wireless systems to operate at terahertz frequencies, far higher than those used by today’s 5G networks.
However, before THz frequencies can be used reliably, major improvements are needed in the antennas that transmit and receive these signals.
In previous generations of wireless technology, performance gains have often come from building larger antenna arrays or introducing mechanically complex, actively steered components. While effective, these approaches increase cost, complexity and the risk of failure. Without a fundamental rethink of how data is handled at THz frequencies, the issues could make 6G both difficult and impractical to deploy.
Borrowing concepts from topological photonics
To tackle this challenge, Singh’s team turned to topological photonics—a field that studies artificial structures which force light to travel along protected paths. By carefully patterning materials, researchers can create compact devices where traveling electromagnetic waves are protected against scattering and defects, even when navigating sharp corners.
To harness these effects, the team designed a silicon chip perforated with an array of triangular holes of two different sizes—either 99 or 264 micrometers across.
By arranging the smaller and larger holes in specific patterns, the researchers could control whether THz radiation continued to flow inside the chip or instead leaked out at a precisely defined angle. This controlled leakage produces a cone of outgoing, information-carrying THz signals, turning the structure into an antenna.
Wide coverage from a passive design
As THz radiation leaks out at different points along the antenna, it provides both horizontal and vertical coverage. Operating as a transmitter, it can reach around 75% of the three-dimensional space surrounding it—more than 30 times the coverage of many existing THz antennas.
Conversely, the same structure can also act as a receiver, capturing incoming THz signals over a similarly wide range and routing them onto the chip.
Throughout these demonstrations, the antenna maintained data rates hundreds of times higher than those achieved by other state-of-the-art THz devices.
Crucially, all of this could be achieved using a completely passive and relatively simple design, with control built directly into the geometry of the chip rather than delegated to external moving parts. This could reduce operating costs, while dramatically lowering the risk of mechanical failure.
Towards fully integrated 6G terahertz chips
Building on these results, Singh’s team now aim to explore how every element of a THz communication system—including transmission, reception and signal processing—could be integrated onto a single chip. If achieved, these advances could bring us a step closer to reliable 6G networks that handle THz signals as seamlessly as today’s networks manage lower-frequency data. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-topological-antenna-pave-6g-networks.html
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