Ultra-high speed light activated microwave switch/modulation using photoreactive effect
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A high speed switch comprising:
- a body of semiconductor material having a diode junction therein and contacts on opposing surfaces thereof, said contacts and diode junction defining a microwave shunt reactance device having an operating frequency;
a photoactive area at one of said surfaces such that said microwave shunt reactance device is switched between a signal matching state and a signal reflecting state in response to a change in illumination intensity upon said photoactive area;
a source of optical illumination for illuminating said photoactive area; and
a variable voltage supply coupled to said contacts for changing the voltage supplied by said voltage supply to cause a change in said operating frequency.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The RF/microwave switch/modulator uses an optically controlled diode 20. The reactance of the diode may be varied by varying the illumination intensity. In this fashion, the photodiode in conjunction with an external circuit can switch or modulate a microwave signal by varying the reactance of the diode using a laser light source or the like. The bias voltage may be varied to electronically tune the diode so that the microwave frequency of operation can be electronically controlled.
47 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A high speed switch comprising:
-
a body of semiconductor material having a diode junction therein and contacts on opposing surfaces thereof, said contacts and diode junction defining a microwave shunt reactance device having an operating frequency; a photoactive area at one of said surfaces such that said microwave shunt reactance device is switched between a signal matching state and a signal reflecting state in response to a change in illumination intensity upon said photoactive area; a source of optical illumination for illuminating said photoactive area; and a variable voltage supply coupled to said contacts for changing the voltage supplied by said voltage supply to cause a change in said operating frequency. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A high speed microwave modulator comprising:
-
a body of semiconductor material having a diode junction therein and contacts on opposing surfaces thereof, said contacts and diode junction defining a microwave signal shunt reactance device having an operating frequency; a photoactive area at one of said surfaces such that said microwave signal is amplitude modulated in response to modulation of illumination intensity upon said photoactive area; a source of optical illumination for illuminating said photoactive area; and a variable voltage supply coupled to said contacts for changing the voltage supplied by said voltage supply to cause a change in said operating frequency. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification