Title :
Optically Pumped Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna Design
Author :
Tawk, Y. ; Albrecht, Alex R. ; Hemmady, S. ; Balakrishnan, Gunny ; Christodoulou, Christos G.
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
fDate :
7/2/1905 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
This letter presents a novel frequency reconfigurable antenna design using photoconductive silicon elements as optical switches. By illuminating these silicon elements with light of suitable wavelength, their physical properties can be altered from that of a semiconductor to almost metal-like, which in turn alters the radiation properties of the antenna structure. Our work builds on similar work conducted in the past, but goes further by demonstrating a new geometry for coupling the light energy onto the silicon switches, thereby facilitating conformal integration of such reconfigurable antennas into next-generation wireless devices. In this letter, we first present a theoretical model characterizing the behavior of silicon substrate under light illumination. We then present experimental results on a stripline circuit employing a single silicon switch under light illumination and compare the theoretical model to experimental measurements. Finally, a novel frequency reconfigurable antenna design utilizing our new coupling geometry is designed, and its experimentally measured RF performance is compared to numerical simulations.
Keywords :
antennas; numerical analysis; optical switches; numerical simulations; optical switches; optically pumped frequency reconfigurable antenna design; photoconductive silicon elements; silicon switches; suitable wavelength; Frequency reconfigurable antennas; optical switching; silicon processing;
Journal_Title :
Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LAWP.2010.2047373