🚀 China's pushing the boundaries again! A joint team led by the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences just nailed a groundbreaking terahertz wireless communication test on the epic Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.
For the first time ever, high-sensitivity superconducting receiver technology was used in long-distance wireless communication, beaming high-definition video signals over a whopping 1.2 kilometers! And get this—the experiment was at an altitude of over 4,000 meters at a submillimeter-wave astronomical observation base in Qinghai Province.
Here's the crazy part: they did all this with a transmission power of just 10 microwatts—that's one-millionth the power of your typical mobile phone base station 📱. Even with such a tiny signal, the team successfully received HD video through a superconducting terahertz receiver. Mind blown!
Li Jing, a researcher at PMO, compared the jump from microwave to terahertz communication to upgrading from a two-lane road to a six or eight-lane highway 🛣️. More lanes mean more spectrum resources, meaning faster and richer data flow. Plus, superconducting detection tech makes it super efficient, letting signals travel farther with minimal loss.
So what's terahertz (THz) radiation anyway? It's electromagnetic waves with frequencies between 0.1 and 10 THz, sitting between microwave and light. Think of it as the superhero of future communications 🦸♂️.
But there are challenges—long-distance transmission faces serious signal loss. Chinese researchers have been on it since the '90s, developing terahertz astronomical detection technologies. This experiment set a new record for the farthest terahertz wireless communication distance above the 0.5 THz frequency band. Talk about leveling up! 🎮
Shi Shengcai, an academician at the CAS, highlighted China's edge in this field. The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is like the dream spot for these experiments, and decades of work on superconducting detector tech are paying off.
The success of this experiment shows that superconducting receivers have huge potential for long-distance terahertz communication. It's paving the way for future space-based and air-to-ground communication systems with massive data capacities. The future is now! 🌐
Reference(s):
China completes first superconducting terahertz communication test
cgtn.com
