Variable microwave time delay by utilizing optical approaches

A new method is presented for establishing variable microwave time delay utilizing optical approaches. In many applications there is a need for a significant time delay which cannot be established by microwave methods. The optical fiber can offer a substantial time delay which can be utilized by converting the microwave signal into the optical domain and after the proper delay it is converted back to microwave. By choosing the fiber length the necessary microwave delay can be adjusted. The main contribution is the variation of the delay. That is achieved by applying a dispersive fiber and a tunable laser. When the laser wavelength is changed the delay is varied due to the fiber dispersion. That new approach is very advantageous for beam steering of phased array antennas.