Research
We build terahertz systems from materials to standards: hardware, channel, communications, networks, policy and standards.
Why terahertz
Three properties of terahertz radiation motivate everything we do.
Vast bandwidth
100 GHz to 10 THz
Higher carrier frequencies bring larger bandwidths: tens of gigahertz of contiguous spectrum above 100 GHz support data rates from hundreds of gigabits per second up to a few terabits per second.
Small wavelength
3 mm to 30 µm
Small wavelengths enable either very small antennas, for chips and for the body, or very high gain antennas and arrays in compact form factors. High gain extends the near field to practical distances and makes long-range links possible, including non-terrestrial and satellite communications.
Photon energy
0.41 to 41 meV
A property often overlooked in communications. Terahertz photons carry too little energy to ionize or break molecular bonds, but enough to excite molecular rotations and vibrations, so molecules and materials respond at characteristic frequencies. This enables sensing alongside communication.
Together, these properties enable communication and sensing across scales, from inside the body to space.
At a glance
The pyramid
Our work is organized as a pyramid, with materials and devices at its base and spectrum policy and standardization at its top. Each layer builds on the capabilities and limits of the layers below it. Every layer below links to its publications.
- 1
Materials and devices
Terahertz signals can be generated in three ways: electronic systems that upconvert from lower frequencies, solid-state or vacuum-based; photonic systems that downconvert from optical frequencies; and plasmonic devices that work intrinsically at terahertz frequencies. Antennas work in transmission, reception and reflection, and are discretized into arrays. Because terahertz sits between radio and optics, we also use lenses, as optical engineers do, and discretize them into metasurfaces. Signal processing engines complete the system, from offline processing to real-time software-defined radios.
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Our work ranges from graphene plasmonic nano-antennas and nano-transceivers and ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide films to reflectarrays, programmable surfaces and deployable CubeSat antennas. The TeraNova testbed brings front ends, antennas, lenses and real-time signal processing together.
139 publications · 6 active projects
- 2
Propagation and channel modeling
Molecular absorption is often assumed to rule out terahertz links, but it is concentrated in distinct peaks: these are usually avoided and can also be exploited, for example to limit the range of a link for security. Spreading loss is likewise not a fixed penalty; it depends on antenna size, and apertures that are large relative to the wavelength provide high directivity and extend the near field. Blockage remains a challenge, which we address with beams that bend around obstacles or recover after them.
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Our models cover air, rain, snow, the atmosphere, plasma and human tissue, including scattering, pointing errors and the transition from near field to far field, and are validated with measurement campaigns above 100 GHz with custom channel sounders.
99 publications · 1 active project
- 3
Communications and signal processing
With the capabilities of the hardware and the effects of the channel characterized, we co-design communication algorithms for very large bandwidths: modulation, coding, synchronization and equalization. We also control the signal in space, with beamforming, MIMO, near-field beamfocusing, and Bessel and Airy beams. Designs run on real-time software-defined radios and are tested over the air, not only in simulation.
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The same co-design covers physical layer security: how to protect terahertz links from eavesdropping, and the threats and countermeasures for standardized terahertz physical layers.
165 publications · 7 active projects
- 4
Networking
Beyond point-to-point links, terahertz networks require their own protocols: medium access control, neighbor discovery, relaying and routing for highly directional links, from nanonetworks and the Internet of Nano-Things to cellular, satellite and data-center networks. We also release open tools such as the TeraSim simulator for ns-3.
107 publications · 3 active projects
- 5
Spectrum policy
Moving terahertz systems beyond the laboratory requires access to spectrum. Above 100 GHz, active wireless systems must coexist with passive scientific users, such as radio astronomy and Earth exploration satellites. With analyses and experimental links we show that these bands can be shared dynamically instead of split into exclusive allocations, and we carry the results to the FCC and the ITU-R.
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Since 2018 the lab has held five FCC experimental authorizations, including the first conventional experimental license above 1 THz, and has operated a multi-kilometer link over 220 to 260 GHz, a range that includes bands protected for passive satellite sensing, by working around the passive users. These results entered the FCC Spectrum Horizons proceeding, which created experimental licenses above 95 GHz and opened more than 20 GHz of unlicensed spectrum, and a U.S. contribution to ITU-R Working Party 1A that initiated Resolution 731 studies. The lab runs registered sub-terahertz experiments in the Northeastern University Innovation Zone, which the FCC renewed and expanded in August 2026 (public notice DA 26-911), and Josep Jornet is Vice-Chair of the mmWave Coalition.
15 publications · 8 policy filings · 1 active project
- 6
Standardization
Standards define how terahertz systems interoperate. The lab has contributed to the IEEE 802.15 terahertz groups since 2010, and physical-layer modes based on amplitude and phase shift keying that originated in its work are part of IEEE Std 802.15.3-2023.
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Josep Jornet is a named contributor to IEEE Std 802.15.3-2023, with 15 technical contributions to IEEE 802.15, to the Standing Committee on Terahertz Communications and to Task Group 3mb, since his first, as a Ph.D. student, in 2010, including work toward IEEE 802.15.3d-2017. In 2026 he became the founding Chair of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Working Group on Terahertz Communications.
Applications across scales
Six settings, ordered by distance. Each links to the publications tagged with it.
- millimeters
Inside the body
Within the body, and from inside the body to outside it: implantable and wearable systems that sense and monitor, and interfaces that control and actuate, such as optogenetic and optogenomic interfaces. Our models of terahertz and optical propagation in tissue support these nano-bio networks, and our studies of the thermal effects of terahertz radiation on tissue inform exposure and safety guidelines.
Sensing: Biosensing and in-body localization with plasmonic nano-devices.
70 publications · 1 active project
- millimeters to meters
Chips and data centers
Within and across chips and chiplets, computers, racks and data centers: wireless networks on chip for massive multi-core computing, and sub-terahertz interconnects for AI data centers that replace fixed cables with links that can be reconfigured between racks and servers with low latency. The data-center work is the focus of a multi-institution NSF program led by the lab.
3 publications · 2 active projects · VINES project website
- meters to kilometers
Terrestrial networks
Indoor and mobile access, wireless LANs, vehicles and drones, and multi-kilometer, multi-gigabit-per-second backhaul links that can bring broadband to rural areas. Experiments in rain, snow and real mobility show how terahertz links behave outside the lab, and the same infrastructure can be used to sense the climate.
Sensing: Radar, material classification and climate sensing over communication infrastructure.
40 publications · 2 active projects
- at and below the surface
At sea
Communication across the air-water boundary, connecting underwater and surface systems to aerial and terrestrial networks with sub-terahertz links, as in the AquaTera air-to-water link. This builds on earlier work by the lab director on underwater acoustic networks, from power control and routing to simulation tools.
- 70 km
Hypersonic reentry
Communication with hypersonic vehicles and spacecraft during reentry, when the plasma sheath that forms around the vehicle blocks conventional radio links. End-to-end terahertz link analyses through the plasma sheath assess whether higher frequencies can keep the link open at around 70 km of altitude.
- 500 km to the Moon
Space
Low Earth orbit constellations, inter-satellite and space-to-ground links, and links to the Moon: channel models for atmospheric effects and scintillation, cross-link interference, and deployable CubeSat antennas. The lab is building TeraLink-1, a 225 GHz CubeSat communications payload selected for the AFRL University Nanosatellite Program.
Sensing: Joint communication and atmospheric sensing from orbit.
24 publications · 3 active projects · TeraLink-1 on the Testbed page
Sensing
Sensing runs across layers and applications: radar, localization, imaging, spectroscopy and joint communication and sensing. Entries where sensing is part of the contribution carry the sensing flag.