The design of optically controlled phase shifter based on silicon photosensitivity

Abstract

Based on the photosensitivity of silicon, a novel optically controlled microwave phase shifter is proposed, which consists of a Xenon lamp and a rectangular waveguide inserted with a silicon slice. By altering the intensity of illumination, the presented structure can change the phase of transmission coefficient efficiently. The performance of the phase shifter is theoretically analyzed and simulated. Experiments are conducted at X band, and the results show that a phase shift of 44° can be obtained, and the insertion loss is 5.8 dB. Especially, the power capacity of the presented structure reaches to 460 MW under vacuum state according to the simulation, which is far greater than traditional microwave phase shifters. This novel structure is attractive for high power microwave (HPM) applications.