OPTICAL MANIPULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF MICROWAVE SIGNALS

WE PROPOSE A NOVEL OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICE COMBINATION AS A POWERFUL AND UNIVERSAL MEANS TO OPTICALLY MANIPULATE AND THEN DISTRIBUTE MICROWAVE SIGNALS. IN CONTRAST TO ANY KNOWN WAVEGUIDE FABRICATION METHOD SUCH AS ION-EXCHANGE, METAL-INDIFFUSION, OR MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY, WE PROPOSE A REFRACTIVE INDEX TUNING METHOD TO CONSTRUCT A LOW COST POLYMER WAVEGUIDE ON ANY SURFACE, INCLUDING SEMICONDUCTORS, CONDUCTORS, AND INSULATORS. THE TUNING METHOD WILL BE RESEARCHED DURING THE PHASE I PROGRAM TO MINIMIZE THE WAVEGUIDE PROPAGATION LOSS. PLAUSIBILITY OF GENERATING A POLYMER WAVEGUIDE MODULATOR AND FABRICATING MICROPRISMS (\ 100 UM) OF ARBITRARY SHAPES WILL ALSO BE DEMONSTRATED. THE PROPOSED MODULATOR HAS A SIMILAR ELECTRODE STRUCTURE TO THAT OF A TRAVELING WAVE DEVICE; THEREFORE, ULTRA-HIGH SPEED IS EXPECTED. THE PROPOSED CONCEPT IS AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL TOOL FOR INTRACHIP, CHIP-TO-CHIP, AND BOARD-TO-BOARD HIGHLY PARALLEL INTERCONNECTS (E.G., FIBER OPTIC DELAY LINES FOR PHASED ARRAY ANTENNAS). THERE IS CURRENTLY NO PRACTICAL WAY TO COUPLE LIGHT FROM SINGLE-MODE WAVEGUIDES TO MULTI-MODE FIBERS (50/125,62.5/125,100/140). THE POLYMER WAVEGUIDE/MICROPRISM ARRAY APPROACH CAN SOLVE THIS INTERFACE PROBLEM. AN INTERCONNECTION SYSTEM SUITABLE FOR ARMY PHASED ARRAY ANTENNAS WILL BE INVESTIGATED IN PHASE I AND THEN DEVELOPED IN PHASE II AND III.