Integrated photonic and plasmonic technologies for microwave signal processing enabling mm-wave and sub-THz wireless communication systems

In order to support the 1,000 times increase in data rates expected from next-generation wireless communica-tions (5G), radically novel technological approaches will be needed. Integrated microwave photonics (IMWP) techniques are identified as an enabling technology for 5G, thanks to their potential to improve the performance of electronics by leveraging the broadband characteristics and flexibility of operation of photonic integrated cir-cuits. Relevant applications of IMWP are optical signal generation and distribution of mm-waves towards anten-na terminals, optical control of antenna arrays, frequency-reconfigurable filtering, and more. The rapidly grow-ing field of plasmonics has shown a breakthrough in performance for optical modulators with fast operation (500 GHz) and ultra-compact footprint (10s mu m(2)). This paper reports recent achievements on the use of integrat-ed plasmonic devices for millimeter-wave signal conversion and processing for next-generation wireless systems.