True Time Delay Optical Beamforming Network Based on Hybrid InP-Silicon Nitride Integration
Creators
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Christos Tsokos1
- Efstathios Andrianopoulos1
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Adam Raptakis1
- Nikolaos Lyras1
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Lefteris Gounaridis1
- Panos Groumas2
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Roelof Bernardus Timens3
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Ilka Visscher3
- Robert Grootjans3
- Lennart S. Wevers3
- Dimitri Geskus3
- Edwin J. Klein3
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Hercules Avramopoulos1
- Rene G. Heideman3
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Christos Kouloumentas4
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Chris G. H. Roeloffzen3
- 1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Photonic Communications Research Laboratory, National Technical University of Athens
- 2. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens
- 3. LioniX International BV
- 4. Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens
Description
We demonstrate a broadband and continuously tunable 14 optical beamforming network (OBFN), based on the hybrid integration of indium phosphide (InP) components in the silicon nitride (Si3N4) platform. The photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprises a hybrid InP-Si3N4 external cavity laser, a pair of InP phase modulators, a Si3N4 optical single-sideband full carrier (SSBFC) filter followed by four tunable optical true time delay lines (OTTDLs), and four InP photodetectors. Each OTTDL consists of eight cascaded thermo-optical micro-ring resonators (MRRs) that impose tunable true time delay on the propagating optical signals. The OBFN-PIC is designed to facilitate the steering of a microwave signal with carrier frequency up to 40 GHz over a continuous set of beam angles. We evaluate the performance of the OBFN-PIC to handle and process microwave signals, measuring the link gain, the noise figure (NF), and the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) parameters. Moreover, we assess its beamforming capabilities assuming that the OBFN-PIC is part of a wireless system operating in the downlink direction and feeds a multi-element antenna array. Using microwave signals at 5 and 10 GHz with quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) formats at 500 Mbaud, we evaluate the performance of the OBFN-PIC under various configurations. We show that error-free performance can be achieved at both operating frequencies and for all the investigated beam angles ranging from 45 to 135, thus validating its potential for high-quality beamforming performance.
Files
True-Time-Delay-Optical-Beamforming-Network-Based-on-Hybrid-InP-Silicon-Nitride-Integration-JLT-2021.pdf
Files
(3.9 MB)
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