Broadband linear array with photoconductive attenuators

This paper describes the design, construction, and testing of an 8 element broadband array with photoconductive attenuators at each broadband monopole element. The photoconductive attenuators are controlled by an IR LED and vary between on and off with a small reflection coefficient and small insertion loss. Test results for the elements and array are presented. Low sidelobe Chebyshev amplitude tapers are demonstrated by controlling the illumination of the photoconductive weights.