Low-loss and programmable integrated photonic beamformer for electronically-steered broadband phased array antennas

We have reported the progress of the development of an integrated photonic BFN chip used in a K
_u
-band PAA system. Various test structures and building blocks have been characterized. The realized BFN chip features a waveguide propagation loss lower than 0.2 dB/cm, a bend radius of 125 μm and high design accuracy, fulfilling the required device characteristics.