A new way to optically control a millimeter-wave oscillator

A new way to optically control a millimeter-wave oscillator is proposed. Instead of illuminating the active area of the semiconductor of the diode, a plasma is injected onto a semiconductor which is a part of the controlled oscillator circuit. This technique is called distributed constant optical control, and it can be used in various oscillators regardless of the principle of oscillation of the controlled oscillator. In contrast to previously reported optically controlled oscillators, which usually give a negative frequency variance response to the controlling light signals, the proposed method can produce a positive frequency variance. In experiments, an increasing optically controlled frequency variance of about 150 MHz was observed in a Ka -band Gunn oscillator