<title>Novel integrated optical beam former for phased-array antennas</title>

Abstract

We present the theoretical investigation, including design criteria, of a new optical beam former for phased-array active antennas. The device is formed by a Z-cut LiNbO3 channel-planar composite waveguide, an array of interferometnic modulators and a linear microlens array.The basic element of the new architecture is the array of Mach-Zehnder Ti:liNbO3 intensity modulators having asymmetric coplanar-strip travelIng-wave electrodes in which a relatively thick Si02 buffer layer is utilized to reduce the phase velocity mismatch between the microwaves and optical waves.A comparison with other optical and electronic architectures already proposed showed a number of significant advantages. In particular, our device can be used in multichannel optical computing systems as well as in optical communication and RF signal processing systems allowing to overcome severe frequency limitations typical of devices reported in literature since it can work at frequencies greater than 30 GHz. So the very large transmission rate typical ofthe optical fiber communication systems may be conveniently exploited.

THz Beam Shaper Realizing Fan-Out Patterns

“…Moreover, in comparison with the 3×1 fan-out structure, the 3×3 fan-out structure was a Dammann-like structure that was optimized to assure uniform distribution between all the spots in the designed array. Therefore, the designed 3×1 and 3×3 fan-out structures may have the practical use in illuminating systems in the THz range of radiation including the THz scanners [3], the THz multipoint communication systems [1], and the space observation instruments [2].…”

“…They can be used for fan-out applications, for example for THz communication [1] and space observation [2]. Moreover, they can be applied in cases where it can be helpful to illuminate the object with a larger number of points (or lines) to increase the spatial resolution of scanning or imaging.…”