Chirped fibre Bragg gratings for phased-array antennas

Abstract

A variable delay line for phased-array antennas based on a chirped fibre Bragg grating is demonstrated. The time delay of a microwave modulating signal is modified by scanning in wavelength a chirped grating. In this initial experiment, time delay variations up to 556 ps have been achieved using a grating of 0.4 nm bandwidth and 6 cm length and modulating in the frequency range 390 MHz–5.20 GHz.