Title :
Reconfigurable Delay Time Polymer Planar Lightwave Circuit for an X-band Phased-Array Antenna Demonstration
Author :
Howley, Brie ; Wang, Xiaolong ; Chen, Maggie ; Chen, Ray T.
Author_Institution :
Microelectron. Res. Center, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX
fDate :
3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A 4-bit polymer optoelectronic true-time delay (TTD) device is demonstrated. The planar lightwave circuit (PLC) is composed of monolithically integrated low-loss passive polymer waveguide delay lines and five cascaded 2 times 2 polymer thermooptic switches. Waveguide junction offsets and air trenches simultaneously reduce the bending loss and device area. Simulations are used to optimize the trench and offset structures for fabrication. The 16 time delays generated by the device are measured to be in the range from 0 to 177 ps in 11.8-ps increments. The packaged PLC has an insertion loss of up to 14.9 dB, and the delay switching speed is 2 ms. An eight-element X-band phased-array antenna system is constructed to demonstrate the beam-steering capabilities of the 4-bit-delay devices. The TTD devices are shown to steer the far-field radiation pattern between 0deg and -14.5deg
Keywords :
antenna phased arrays; beam steering; delays; optical delay lines; optical losses; optical planar waveguides; optical polymers; optical switches; thermo-optical devices; X-band phased-array antenna; beam steering; bending loss; insertion loss; polymer planar lightwave circuit; polymer thermooptic switch; true-time delay; waveguide delay lines; Circuit simulation; Delay effects; Delay lines; Fabrication; Planar waveguides; Polymers; Programmable control; Switches; Switching circuits; Waveguide junctions; Delay effects; integrated optoelectronics; phased arrays; planar waveguides; plastics; waveguide bends; waveguide switches;
Journal_Title :
Lightwave Technology, Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JLT.2006.890459
