Title :
An optoelectronic attenuator for the control of microwave circuits
Author :
Saddow, Stephen E. ; Thedrez, Bruno J. ; Lee, Chi H.
Author_Institution :
Army Res. Lab., Adelphi, MD, USA
Abstract :
An optoelectronic technique suitable for the control of microwave circuits has been demonstrated. using a coplanar waveguide-photoconductive switch (CPW-PCS), the RF impedance is varied by using a laser diode to create a conductive plasma in the switch gap. With a fiber pigtailed AlGaAs laser diode and a silicon CPW-PCS, 30 dB of RF attenuation was achieved with a laser peak power of 375 mW. Intensity saturation of the Si:CPW-PCS was also observed and characterized to improve the attenuator performance.<>
Keywords :
attenuators; microwave circuits; optical switches; photoconducting devices; semiconductor switches; strip line components; 375 mW; AlGaAs; RF impedance; Si; conductive plasma; coplanar waveguide-photoconductive switch; fibre pigtailed LD; laser diode; microwave circuits; optoelectronic attenuator; switch gap; Attenuators; Coplanar waveguides; Diode lasers; Microwave circuits; Microwave theory and techniques; Optical control; Radio frequency; Switches; Switching circuits; Waveguide discontinuities;
Journal_Title :
Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, IEEE
