Optical steering of a phased-array antenna based on fast delay-line switches

A kind of architecture of optical steering of a phased-array antenna (PAA) based on a fast optical delay-line switch is proposed and experimentally studied. A 4-bit fast optical delay-line switch with switching speed of less than 30 μs is constructed using cascaded solid-state optical switches. A distributed feedback laser integrated with electro-absorption modulator is employed for radio-frequency feeding and delivery. Our experimental system of transporting X-band microwave signals over one antenna element shows a signal-to-noise ratio better than 55 dB and low crosstalk of less than −50 dB. The structure features a compact design, a low-cost solution, a fast tilting speed, and true-time-delay beam steering. The proposed scheme of optical steering is very promising for wideband X-band PAA applications. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 1449–1452, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21631