Optical switching of 1-D microstrip photonic bandgap structures

The optical control of a microstrip one dimensional (1-D) photonic bandgap (PBG) structure has been demonstrated over the frequency range 7-13GHz. A microstrip PBG structure was fabricated on Duroid 6010 and a high resistivity photoconductive Si wafer was placed in contact with the ground plane. With no optical illumination incident upon the Si, the microstrip PBG filtering properties are well-defined. When the Si is illuminated the filtering properties are suppressed. Under illumination the experimental results display an increase in S₂₁ of 6.5dB and a reduction in S₁₁ of more than 8dB at the centre frequency of 10GHz. Experimental results are presented alongside those simulated.