Microwave subnanosecond pulse generation and shaping by using infrared optoelectronic switching

Recent published studies have shown that the application of nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) to biological cells causes relevant effects as cell membrane phospholipides rearrangement and activation of different apoptotic markers, without thermal heating induction. With nsPEF, it is more complicated to properly control both the frequency content and the temporal shape with kilovolt amplitude. In this work, we describe nanosecond and subnanosecond electric pulses generation with kilovolt amplitude by using mode locked picosecond and compact microchip nanosecond laser sources. The shaping pulse circuit is a compact system which provides a large variety of pulses with adjustable shape and spectral content.