New material acts as an efficient frequency multiplier
Higher frequencies mean faster data transfer and more powerful processors – the formula that has been driving the IT industry for years. Technically, however, it is anything but easy to keep increasing clock rates and radio frequencies. New materials could solve the problem. Experiments at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now produced a promising result: An international team of researchers was able to get a novel material to increase the frequency of a terahertz radiation flash by a factor of seven: a first step for potential IT applications, as the group reports in the journal Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16133-8).
Read more on the TELBE at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf website
Image: An international team of researchers was able to show that the three-dimensional Dirac material cadmium arsenide (blue-red cone) can multiply the frequency of a strong terahertz pulse (red line) by a factor of seven. The reason for this are the free electrons (red dots) in the cadmium arsenide, which are accelerated by the electrical field of the terahertz flash and, thus, in turn emit electromagnetic radiation.
Credit: HZDR / Sahneweiß / istockphoto.com, spainter_vfx