Optical Control of MMICs: Microwave Functions Achievements by Optics

Charlotte Tripon-Canseliet, Ph.D.

Pierre and Marie Curie University
Instruments and Systems Laboratory (LISIF), Paris, France

Abstract:

Microwave photonics contributes through ultrafast devices to the processing of high data rates. In this area, microwave photoconductive switches (MPCSs) in integrated technology have proved their performances to control the transmission of high frequency signals in complex systems. Their ability to switch microwave signal phase and magnitude can be taken into account in MMICs design to introduce an optical command in classical electronic systems.

A description of MPCSs design and modelling procedures will be exposed. Two different homemade representations of optical command have been developed in order to take into account different types of modulation applied on the optical signal in microwave electrical and 3D electromagnetic simulation softwares. MPCSs design tools accuracy is enhanced thanks to feedback extraction of electrical and optical parameters from experimental results of MPCSs, obtained in frequency and time domains and in a microwave photonics probe test environment. Experimental validation of a patented structure of MPCSs, in cooperation with Thales Aerospace Division, leads today to microwave efficiency enhancements of MPCSs in terms of microwave signal magnitude switching and phase shifting. Experimental demonstration of extended functionalities achievement such as magnitude modulation, generation and sampling of microwave signals by photoconductive effect will be presented.

Future microwave photonics research activities are mainly focused on designs of fully- integrated complex optically-controlled microwave systems for radar applications and also for Telecom network infrastructures.

Biography:

Charlotte Tripon-Canseliet received the M.S.E.E. degree in fundamental physics from the University of Rennes in France, in 1999, and the Ph.D. degree in 2003 within Pierre and Marie Curie University of Paris in microwave photonics concerning the study of the optical control of microwave devices and its use for microwave modulation and sampling, in the Microelectronics, Instrumentation, Microwave and Electromagnetism (MIME) research group of the Laboratoire des Instruments et Systèmes d’Ile de France (LISIF), directed by Pr. Georges ALQUIE, in cooperation with Thales Aerospace Division. Since 2005, she is in charge of the modeling and design of optically-controlled microwave components as a research engineer at LISIF, and since 2007 as teaching and research professor assistant. Her competences are focused on optimizations of MMIC photoswitching devices by use of 3D electromagnetic commercial softwares and homemade non-linear modeling of photoconductivity which allows integration of the optical control in commercial microwave softwares, on opto-microwave characterization of optically-controlled microwave components. In association, since 2004 she also works on the design of millimeter- and submillimeter-wave frequency multipliers in integrated technology for radio-astronomy, in cooperation with the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL-NASA, USA) and Paris Observatory (France).

Friday, March 16th at 10:30 a.m.