A 220 GHz Communications Link Utilizing Frequency Multipliers

A solid-state 220-GHz communication link is presented. It utilizes a novel, complex modulation technique to achieve efficient power transmission with the highly-nonlinear frequency multipliers. The transmitter operates with coherent power combining of two frequency multiplier chains to achieve precise, linear amplitude and phase modulation, despite the strong multiplier nonlinearity. Several modulation schemes (OOK, BPSK, and QPSK) are demonstrated at the saturated output of 20 dBm. This transmitter scheme offers an alternative to the conventional mixer up-converter approach which when operated in linear mode results in lower efficiency. Government Microcircuit Applications and Critical Technology Conference (41st) (GOMACTech-16) , 14 Mar 2016, 17 Mar 2016, See also AD1023107.