Broadband Linear Array With Photoconductive Weights

This letter presents the design, construction, and testing of an eight-element broadband array with photoconductive weights at each element. The photoconductive weights are activated 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. A low sidelobe array pattern is demonstrated by tapering the illumination of the photoconductive weights.