Professors Hae-Wook Han and Byung-Don Kong of POSTECH Electrical Engineering were selected in the second 2018 round of the Samsung Future Technology Center’s ICT Creative Research Program to develop an integrated THz laser chip for wireless communications operating at room temperature.

The project will receive KRW 500 million annually, totaling KRW 2 billion over four years, for research ranging from fundamentals to applications.

“THz Gap”: Before and After the Invention of THz Lasers

Historically, the development of integrated semiconductor lasers operating at room temperature led to major advances in optical communications and other information and communication technologies. Developing room-temperature integrated THz lasers is similarly essential for THz wireless communications. Success is expected to have a major impact on both THz wireless communications and THz photonics more broadly.