Lithium niobate guided-wave beam former for steering phased-array antennas

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Waveguide Technology
• Antenna Array Signal Processing
• Acousto-Optic Devices

Background:

• Beam forming in phased active antenna arrays is crucial for modern communication systems.
• Existing optical and electronic architectures face limitations in size, weight, and power consumption for large arrays.
• L-band transmission requires efficient and compact beam-forming solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To theoretically investigate, design, and simulate a novel guided-wave optical processor for L-band beam forming.
• To evaluate the performance and advantages of the proposed optical processor compared to existing technologies.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of using acousto-optic interactions in planar waveguides for antenna array applications.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical analysis of guided-wave propagation in a Ti:LiNbO(3) planar waveguide.
• Design of a configuration incorporating two contradirectional surface acoustic-wave transducers.
• Simulation of the optical processor's performance for L-band transmission beam forming.
• Comparative analysis with other optical and electronic beam-forming architectures.

Main Results:

• The proposed guided-wave optical processor supports lowest-order TE(0) and TM(0) modes at λ = 0.85 µm.
• Simulations indicate significant advantages in weight, chip size, and power consumption for antenna arrays with >50 elements.
• The device leverages acousto-optic effects in a Y-cut, X-propagating Ti:LiNbO(3) waveguide.

Conclusions:

• The novel guided-wave optical processor presents a promising solution for L-band beam forming in large phased active antenna arrays.
• The proposed architecture offers superior performance metrics compared to conventional methods for large-scale systems.
• This work advances the integration of photonics and antenna technologies for next-generation communication systems.