Conformal leaky-wave antennas for wireless terahertz communications

Abstract Future generations of wireless systems are expected to combine the use of high-frequency bands (the terahertz range) with smart interconnected devices (the Internet of Things). To realize this ambitious merging, systems will require antennas that can be mounted on nonplanar objects while generating highly directional beams. Here, we study conformal THz leaky-wave antennas at THz frequencies. We find a rich set of behaviors accessible at THz frequencies dictated by the interplay among the geometrical parameters and the wavelength. We develop simple models to describe the relevant physics, which we verify by an experimental implementation. We also demonstrate data transmission using a conformal THz antenna that can generate multiple high-gain beams with low bit error rates for increased coverage of THz wireless links.