SUPERCONDUCTING MILLIMETER WAVE PHASE SHIFTER

BASED ON EXPERTISE IN ADVANCED SUPERCONDUCTING TECHNOLOGIES, HYPRES PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE SUPERCONDUCTING MICROSTRIP INTERFEROMETERS AS VERY BROADBAND, LOW POWER PHASE SHIFTERS SUITABLE FOR INCORPORATION INTO A MILLIMETER AND, ULTIMATELY, SUBMILLIMETER-WAVE PHASED ARRAY ANTENNAS. THIS UNIQUE PHASE SHIFTER COMBINES THE PHYSICS OF NON-EQUILIBRIUM SUPERCONDUCTIVITY WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE SUPERCONDUCTING TRANSMISSION LINES TO ACHIEVE CONTINUOUS MODULATION OF THE PHASE VELOCITY BY ELECTRONIC OR OPTICAL MEANS. PHASE SHIFTERS DESIGNED FROM THESE INTERFEROMETERS ARE EXPECTED TO PROVIDE EXTREMELY WIDE BANDWIDTHS (HUNDREDS OF GIGAHERTZ) AND VERY HIGH SPEED (SUBNANOSECOND) RESPONSES FOR WAVELENGTHS LESS THAN ONE MILLIMETER. THE THIN FILM FABRICATION OF MICROSTRIP WILL ENSURE LARGE SCALE REPRODUCIBILITY AND PERMIT NUMEROUS CIRCUITS ON A WAFER AS REQUIRED FOR A LARGE NUMBER OF PHASE SHIFTERS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SUPERCONDUCTING PHASE SHIFTER FURTHER CONTRIBUTES TO THE ULTIMATE SYSTEM COST, SIZE AND RELIABILITY BENEFITS REALIZED FROM INTEGRATIG MANY SUPERCONDUCTING COMPONENTS ON A SINGLE SUBSTRATE.