High power quasi-optical sources for millimeter-wave base-station applications

Millimeter-wave radios are becoming an increasingly competitive alternative to traditional twisted-pair, cable, and fiber technologies. New spectrum bands are being allocated to allow for the commercial development of local, cellular-like communication networks. Because solid-state devices have low output powers at millimeter-wave frequencies, the outputs from many devices must be combined to produce the power levels dictated by link-budget analysis. By integrating a large number of devices with antennas into an array, radiated signals can coherently combine in free-space with high efficiency. This paper will discuss on-going activities to develop high-power quasi-optical transmitters for these new wireless bands.