Time- and Frequency-Domain Analysis of Molecular Absorption in Short-Range Terahertz Communications

Graphene is enabling a plethora of applications in a wide range of fields due to its unique electrical, mechanical, and optical properties. In this context, graphene antennas are envisioned to enable ultra-high-speed wireless communication in short transmission ranges, due to both their reduced size and their radiation frequency in the terahertz band. Despite its high potential bandwidth, the terahertz band presents several phenomena that may impair the communication and reduce the achievable data rate. In this letter, the phenomenon of molecular absorption is quantitatively analyzed, evaluating the scalability of both time- and frequency-domain performance metrics with the transmission distance. The results of this analysis show that molecular absorption creates a tradeoff between the achievable throughput and the maximum transmission distance at which short-range terahertz wireless communications can successfully take place.