Dispersion Limitations of Ultra-Wideband Wireless Links and Their Compensation Via Photonically Enabled Arbitrary Waveform Generation

In this study, we present compression of ultra-wideband RF waveforms via photonic synthesis of phase pre-compensated waveforms. By exciting a dispersive wireless link (employing Archimedean spiral antennas) with variable-bandwidth excitation waveforms, we first demonstrate that such links exhibit a dispersion-limited output pulse duration. Subsequently, we utilize the RF spectral phase extracted from the impulse response of the link to create signals designed to negate the nonuniform phase response of the spiral antennas utilized in the link. Such waveforms remove the dispersion limitation and enable bandwidth-limited operation. We achieve compression to within a factor of two of the bandwidth limit for signals with bandwidths of 1-10 GHz at a center frequency of ~6 GHz. To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of dispersion pre-compensation for signals with fractional bandwidths exceeding 100%. Our technique is reprogrammable and may be extended to larger bandwidths and higher operational frequencies, making it an enabler for future radar and communication systems.