Fast Switching and Wideband Photonic Beamformer with Flat RF Response and Squintless Scan Performance

A wideband (>10 GHz) beamformer, based on a photonic true-time-delay, with sub-microsecond angle switching is reported. The smooth microwave transmission (ripples <0.5 dB&<3deg) and superb uniformity among the elements (<0.1 dB&<0.5deg) result in excellent RF performance.