Compensation of the effects of antenna dispersion on UWB waveforms via optical pulse-shaping techniques

To our knowledge, we present the first experimental demonstration of compensation of antenna dispersion effects on impulsive ultra-wideband (UWB) signals. By extracting the RF spectral phase from a time-domain impulse response measurement of a pair of ridged TEM horn antennas, we utilize a photonic-synthesis technique for arbitrary electromagnetic signal waveforms to generate a signal ´´matched´´ to the antenna pair. We demonstrate that the received waveform is compressed and exhibits reduced ringing levels, as compared to the impulse response of the system. Our technique is reprogrammable and we believe the technique will be applicable to a variety of antennas operating in the UWB communications band of 3.1-10.6 GHz.