A k-band broadband monolithic distributed frequency multiplier based on nonlinear transmission line

A fabrication technology of GaAs planar Schottky varactor diode (PSVD) is successfully developed and used to design and manufacture GaAs-based monolithic frequency multiplication based on 23-section nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs) consisting of a coplanar waveguide transmission line and periodically distributed PSVDs. The throughout design and optimization procedure of 23-section monolithic NLTLs for frequency multiplication in the k-band range is based on a large signal equivalent model of PSVD extracted from small-signal S-parameter measurements. This paper reports that the distributed SPVD exhibits a capacitance ratio of 5.4, a normalized capacitance of 0.86 fF/μm2 and a breakdown voltage in excess of 22 V. The integrated 23-section NLTLs fed by 20-dBm input power demonstrates a 26-GHz peak second harmonic output power of 14-dBm with 25.3% conversion efficiency in the second harmonic output frequency range of 6 GHz-26 GHz.     

A GaAs planar Schottky varactor diode for left-handed nonlinear transmission line applications

The left-handed nonlinear transmission line(LH-NLTL) based on monolithic microwave integrated circuit(MMIC) technology possesses significant advantages such as wide frequency band,high operating frequency,high conversion efficiency,and applications in millimeter and submillimeter wave frequency multiplier.The planar Schottky varactor diode(PSVD) is a major limitation to the performance of the LH-NLTL frequency multiplier as a nonlinear component.The design and the fabrication of the diode for such an application are presented.An accurate large-signal model of the diode is proposed.A 16 GHz-39.6 GHz LH-NLTL frequency doubler using our large-signal model is reported for the first time.The measured maximum output powers of the 2nd harmonic are up to 8 dBm at 26.4 GHz,and above 0 dBm from 16 GHz to 39.6 GHz when the input power is 20 dBm.The application of the LH-NLTL frequency doubler furthermore validates the accuracy of the large-signal model of the PSVD.     

Theory study on a photonic-assisted radio frequency phase shifter with direct current voltage control

A photonic-assisted radio frequency phase shifter with direct current voltage control is proposed using a polymer- based integrated Mach-Zehnder modulator. A closed-form expression of radio frequency （RF） signal power and phase is given. Theoretical calculation reveals that by carefully setting the bias voltages, RF signal power variation lower than 1-dB and phase accuracy less than 3° can be achieved and are not degraded by perturbation of modulation index once the bias voltage drift is kept within -3% -- 3%.     

Design of double-layer active frequency-selective surface with PIN diodes for stealth radome

An experimental double-layer active frequency-selective surface(AFSS) for stealth radome is proposed. The AFSS is a planar structure which is composed of a fixed frequency-selective surface(FSS), a PIN diodes array, and a DC bias network. The AFSS elements incorporating switchable PIN diodes are discussed. By means of controlling the DC bias network, it is possible to switch the frequency response for reflecting and transmitting. Measured and simulated data validate that when the incidence angle varies from 0?to 30?the AFSS produces more than-11.5 d B isolation across6–18 GHz when forward biased. The insertion loss(IL) is less than 0.5 d B across 10–11 GHz when reverse biased.     

Research of sine waveguide slow-wave structure for a 220-GHz backward wave oscillator

A watt-class backward wave oscillator is proposed,using the concise sine waveguide slow-wave structure combined with a pencil electron beam to operate at 220 GHz.Firstly,the dispersion curve of the sine waveguide is calculated,then,the oscillation frequency and operating voltage of the device are predicted and the circuit transmission loss is calculated.Finally,the particle-in-cell simulation method is used to forecast its radiation performance.The results show that this novel backward wave oscillator can produce over 1-W continuous wave power output in a frequency range from 210 GHz to 230 GHz.Therefore,it will be considered as a very promising high-power millimeter-wave to terahertz-wave radiation source.     

A voltage-controlled chaotic oscillator based on carbon nanotube field-effect transistor for low-power embedded systems

This paper presents a compact and low-power-based discrete-time chaotic oscillator based on a carbon nanotube field-effect transistor implemented using Wong and Deng＇s well-known model. The chaotic circuit is composed of a nonlinear circuit that creates an adjustable chaos map, two sample and hold cells for capture and delay functions, and a voltage shifter that works as a buffer and adjusts the output voltage for feedback. The operation of the chaotic circuit is verified with the SPICE software package, which uses a supply voltage of 0.9 V at a frequency of 20 kHz. The time series, frequency spectra, transitions in phase space, sensitivity with the initial condition diagrams, and bifurcation phenomena are presented. The main advantage of this circuit is that its chaotic signal can be generated while dissipating approximately 7.8 μW of power, making it suitable for embedded systems where many chaos-signal generators are required on a single chip.     

Design of a varactor-tunable metamaterial absorber

In this paper, we design a varactor-tunable metamaterial absorber （MA）. The tunable MA is based on a mushroom-type high impedance surface （HIS）, in which varactors are loaded between adjacent metal patches to adjust the capacitance and tune the resonance frequency, the primary ground plane is etched as the bias network to bias all of the varactors in parallel, and another ultra-thin grounded film is attached to the bottom. Its absorption characteristics are realized for electrically dielectric loss. The simulated values of a sample indicate that a tunable frequency range from 2.85 GHz to 2.22 GHz is achieved by adjusting the varactor capacitance from 0.1 pF to 2.0 pF, and better than 0.97 absorbance is realized; in addition, the tunable frequency range is expanded from 4.12 GHz to 1.70 GHz after optimization.     

Design and verification of a broadband highly-efficient plasmonic circulator

Circulators play a significant role in radar and microwave communication systems.This paper proposes a broadband and highly efficient plasmonic circulator,which consists of spoof surface plasmon polaritons(SSPPs)waveguides and ferrite disks to support non-reciprocal mode coupling.The simulated performance of symmetrically designed circulator shows that it has an insertion loss of roughly 0.5 dB while the isolation and return loss is more than 12 dB in the frequency range of 6.0 GHz–10.0 GHz(relative bandwidth of 50%).Equivalent circuit model has been proposed to explain the operating mechanism of the plasmonic circulator.The equivalent circuit model,numerical simulations,and experimental results are consistent with each other,which demonstrates the good performance of the proposed plasmonic circulator.     

Comprehensive studies on dielectric properties of p-methoxy benzylidene p-decyl aniline with function of temperature and frequency in planar geometry: A potential nematic liquid crystal for display devices

The dielectric properties of the nematic mesophase, p-methoxy benzylidene p-decyl aniline(MBDA), measured in planar geometry with a function of frequency and temperature are investigated in detail. The complex dielectric permittivity(ε' and ε') is also studied at a bias voltage of 10 V for planar aligned sample cell of nematic mesophase. The dielectric permittivity with bias voltage attains a higher( 2 times) value than that without bias voltage at a temperature of 56℃,which is due to the fact that the linking group of nematic molecules is internally interacted with an applied bias voltage.This is supported by observing an enhanced dielectric permittivity of nematic liquid crystal(LC) in the presence of bias voltage, which can be fully explained as the increasing of the corresponding dipole moment. The dielectric relaxation behaviors of nematic LC are also demonstrated for planar aligned sample cell. The remarkable results are observed that the relaxation frequency shifts into low frequency region with the increase of the bias voltage applied to the planar aligned sample cells. The dielectric relaxation spectra are fitted by Cole–Cole nonlinear curve fitting for nematic mesophase in order to determine the dielectric strength.     

Interference from Two-Photon Sources in Silica-on-Silicon Circuits at Telecom Wavelength

The integrated photonic chip is a promising way to realize future quantum technology.Here we demonstrate a two-photon interference in the standard telecommunication band on a silica-on-silicon integrated photonic chip.Two identical photons in the 1.55 μm band,which are indistinguishable in spatial,frequency and polarization,are generated by type-Ⅰ collinear spontaneous parametric down-conversion via bismuth borate.The silica-on-silicon integrated chip,which has an insertion loss less than 1 dB,is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a thermo-optic phase shifter.A high visibility of 100% in the classical interference and 99.2% in the two-photon interference is achieved,indicating that the two-photon interference with high interference visibility on the chip is attained successfully.     

Solid state monolithic variable phase shifter with operation into the millimeter wave wavelength regime

Information is provided on the theory and design, fabrication, and experimental results for a phase shifter designed to operate in the millimeter wavelength region. The device was fabricated in a manner that makes it compatible with present GaAs monolithic microwave circuit technology. Continuously variable phase shift is obtained by varying the bias voltage from –5.0 to +0.65 V on a Schottky microstrip line. Experimental phase shift and loss data are provided for two different width (w) Schottky lines, w=1.5 and 7.3 m, for frequencies 2–18 GHz.     

Broadband microwave frequency doubler based on left-handed nonlinear transmission lines

A bandwidth microwave second harmonic generator is successfully designed using composite right/left-handed nonlinear transmission lines(CRLH NLTLs) in a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit(MMIC) technology. The structure parameters of CRLH NLTLs, e.g. host transmission line, rectangular spiral inductor, and nonlinear capacitor,have a great impact on the second harmonic performance enhancement in terms of second harmonic frequency, output power, and conversion efficiency. It has been experimentally demonstrated that the second harmonic frequency is determined by the anomalous dispersion of CRLH NLTLs and can be significantly improved by effectively adjusting these structure parameters. A good agreement between the measured and simulated second harmonic performances of Ka-band CRLH NLTLs frequency multipliers is successfully achieved, which further validates the design approach of frequency multipliers on CRLH NLTLs and indicates the potentials of CRLH NLTLs in terms of the generation of microwave and millimeter-wave signal source.     

Photonic microwave phase shifter/modulator based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror incorporating a Mach-Zehnder interferometer

We realize a novel photonic microwave phase shifter/modulator based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror incorporating a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A near-linear phase shifter exceeding 180 degrees and a phase modulation with 2.5 Gbit/s baseband signal are obtained for a 10 GHz microwave signal by this proposed device.     

不同位置二极管串并联方式对射频电路的影响

分析了单支肖特基二极管以及串并联模拟预失真电路的幅度和相位的非线性特性，仿真结果表明可以将二极管作为模拟预失真电路可调节的核心器件。利用传输矩阵分析得出改变肖特基二极管在预失真电路的不同位置，及不同的串并联连接方式，可以使幅度相位补偿曲线得到改善。由仿真结果可以看出，在不同位置以串联或并联的形式在电路中连接二极管，可有效改变曲线的位置和斜率，从而得到理想的目标曲线形状。     

Active microwave negative-index metamaterial transmission line with gain

We studied the active metamaterial transmission line at microwave frequency. The active composite right-handed or left-handed transmission line was designed to incorporate a germanium tunnel diode with a negative differential resistance property as the gain device at the unit cell level. Measurements of the fabricated planar transmission line structures with one-, two-, and three-unit cells showed that the addition of the dc pumped tunnel diodes not only provided gain but also maintained the left handedness of the transmission line metamaterial. Simulation results agree well with experimental observation. This work demonstrated that negative index material can be obtained with a net gain when an external source is incorporated.     

铁电体移相器高功率微波应用研究

为拓展高功率微波阵列天线的波束扫描范围, 将铁电体移相器引入到高功率微波领域。分析铁电体移相器的工作原理, 并研究其应用于高功率微波领域可能遇到的问题, 利用时域有限差分法对高功率微波在铁电体材料中传播的简单模型进行分析, 研究了微波功率及偏置电场对输出波形的影响, 并进一步分析铁电体移相器应用于高功率微波领域的可行性。结果表明:在不考虑介质损耗的情形下, 选择适当的铁电体材料可以在10 cm内实现L波段180相移, 同时传输效率达到90%以上。     

Diode grids for electronic beam steering and frequency multiplication

Loading a grid with diodes offers the possibility of two-dimensional control of millimeter waves that is analogous to holography and nonlinear optics. These grids are attractive because they are suitable for monolithic integration with gallium-arsenide Schottky diodes and for high-power operation. Here we present grid designs for electronic beam-steering and harmonic generation. The beam-steering grid is a programmable reflector, where the diode bias controls the phase shift of the reflection. The variation of the phase across the grating sets the direction of the reflected beam. The reflection loss in computer simulations is 3dB at 90GHz. The harmonic-generating grid acts as a nonlinear reactive surface, where the nonlinear capacitance of the diodes produces the harmonic frequencies. Quasioptical filters select the desired harmonic. Computer simulations predict that a 65GHz-to-130GHz doubler would have an output power of 0.56W/cm² and a conversion efficiency of 35%.