Spatial optical signal processing multibeam array antennas for both transmission and reception

The application of optical or photonics technology to microwave array antennas in the signal processing and beam formation has been studied previously. But so far there are only few practical systems reported on multibeam applications. An optical signal processing array antenna for both multibeam transmission and reception is proposed by using parallel optical processing and optical heterodyne techniques. The structure and working principle for the proposed optical processing array antenna are given. The receive mode of this antenna by using plural local signals generated by optical processor is shown. To support the antenna design, an experimental setup for a 2-beam array antenna at the Ku-band frequency is demonstrated. Measured amplitude and phase distributions of optical excitation have a very good agreement with the calculated data