Photonic Assisted Beam Steering for Millimeter-Wave and THz Antennas

Abstract

This manuscript discusses photonic assisted beam steering and beam switching millimeter-wave and THz antennas. Planar frequency scanning 60 GHz band leaky wave antennas (LWA) providing up to 15.4 dBi gain and scanning angles up to 110° are reported next to 300 GHz band LWAs with a max. directivity of 16 dBi and 72° scanning angle. Furthermore, photonic beam forming networks (OBFN) for true time delay (TTD) and phased array wideband (275-350 GHz) THz antennas are described. Finally, multiple beam antenna arrays for 1D and 2D beam switching are shown. Experimentally, 1D THz beam switching of 18° is demonstrated. Simulation results for 2D beam switching show a scanning angle of 70°.