USAF - Phillips Laboratory; Technology Transfer Passive Wideband Electromagnetic Field Sensor

We propose the use of a Fabry Perot resonator using channel waveguides in lithium niobate for use as an electromagnetic field sensor. The length of the resonator will be 1 to 3 mm with a finesse of 100 or higher. This large finesse will make the effective Vpi about 0.1 voltes while using short, low capacitance electrodes. As a result bandwidths will exceed 10 GHz. In addition we will fabricate a reference resonator on the same substrate without electrodes to discriminate against temperature and wavelength fluctuaitons. In Phase I we will fabricate multiple resonators on the same substrate with metallic mirrors. RAMAR has, in the past, fabricated such resonators with a finess of 40. We will measure the bandwidth and voltage sensitivity. We will evaluate the similarity of resonators on a single substrate for using one as a reference. RAMAR is a four year old company devoted exclusively to the design, manufacture, and marketing of lithium niobated modulators for the communications, CATV and sensor industry. We are involved with the complex packaging issues for these devices and are well positioned to cooperate with Phillips Laboratory to commercialize this technology.