Highly dispersive photonic crystal fibers for true-time-delay modules of an x-band phased array antenna

Abstract

•A two-dimensional optically controlled phased array antenna (PAA) system is proposed. The system employs highly dispersive photonic crystal fibers (HDPCFs) to provide the true-time-delays (TTD). Independent azimuth and elevation control is obtained through a mid-stage optical wavelength conversion process. The dispersion of the fabricated is as high as -600 ps/nmkm around 1550 nm which is 33 times of conventional telecom SMF. By employing the PCFs to increase the dispersion, the TTD module size can be proportionally reduced. A 64-element (8x8) PCF-based PAA system is under construction. Simulation results operating at X-band are shown in this paper.