Picosecond microwave pulse generation

Abstract

Picosecond duration X-band microwave pulses have been generated using a laser-activated photoconductive switch. These pulses have been used to observe the microwave reflection from optically excited germanium. The reflection measurements indicate that the microwave pulse has a full width at half-maximum of 50 ps and is synchronized with picosecond precision to the laser pulse. A high-resolution radar experiment is also reported.