Just when you think WiFi speeds couldn't get any faster, now a team of Japanese researchers has just broken the record for wireless data transmission in the terahertz range. That means, 20 times faster than current Wi-Fi connections.

The scientists call it the "T-ray" band. And its part of the electromagnetic spectrum between 300 GHz and 3THz. It lies between microwave and far infrared, and is currently an unregulated part of the spectrum.

The researchers have developed hardware capable of transmitting data at 3Gb/s - 20 times faster than the current Wi-Fi connections at frequencies of up to 542GHz. The results are published in Electronic Letters.

In order to achieve that speed, the researchers used a 1 millimeter square device known as a resonant tunneling diode, which produces smaller voltages with increasing current. The team is able to make the tiny device resonate by tuning the current and spit out signals into the terahertz band.

At the moment, its just a proof of concept, but we're definitely heading to faster wi-fi speeds. And its literally sky is the limit for technologies like that. Data caps will be more prevalent in the future.

[Electronics Letters via BBC]