DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR HIGH-POWER MICROWAVE (HPM) CHARACTERIZATION

WE PROPOSE PHASE I OF AN EFFORT WHICH WILL RESULT IN A NON-PERTURBING RF ELECTRIC FIELD PROBE CAPABLE OF COVERING THE POWER INTENSITY RANGE OF 10 TO 1000 W/CM(2), AT FREQUENCIES BETWEEN 100 MHZ AND 10 GHZ, WITH SUFFICIENT BANDWIDTH AND LINEARITY TO MEASURE HPM PULE SHAPES. OUR APPROACH WILL BE TO USE SUB-MILLIMETER ELECTRO-OPTIC SENSORS, SENDING OPTICAL SIGNALS TO AN ULTRA-SENSITIVE REMOTE DETECTION SYSTEM VIA SUB-MILLIMETER, SINGLE-MODE FIBER OPTIC CABLES. WE SHOW THAT THE HIGH DIELECTRIC CONSTANT OF MOST ELECTRO-OPTIC CRYSTALS GREATLY REDUCES THE ELECTRIC FIELD IN THE CRYSTAL, CAUSES IT TO SCATTER MICROWAVE RADIATION, AND COMPLICATES CALIBRATION, THUS PLACING A PREMIUM ON SENSITIVITY, MINIATURIZATION, AND GEOMETRICAL SIMPLICITY. WE PRESENT SEVERAL ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY INNOVATIVE DESIGN CONCEPTS FOR BOTH THE OPTICAL SENSING ELEMENT AND THE DETECTION SYSTEM. THESE RANGE FROM NOVEL DETECTION OF SIGNALS TRANSDUCED BY MINIATURE CONVENTIONAL ELECTRO-OPTIC CRYSTALS TO SYSTEMS BASED UPON MORE EXOTIC MULTIPLE QUANTIUM WELL (MQW) STRUCTURES. THROUGH MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS, COMPUTATIONAL WORK, AND EXPERIMENTAL TESTING, WE PROPOSE TO PREDICT ACCURATELY THE BEHAVIOR OF EACH PROBE COMPONENT AS WELL AS THE COMPLETED PROBE AND TO DEMONSTRATE PROOF-OF-PRINCIPLE OF KEY PROBE FUNCTIONS.