RF Photonics - Why Should Defense Take Notice?

The recent years have seen a fast growing interest in studying and developing novel photonic systems for processing, transmitting, and generating of radio frequency (RF) signals [1]. Processing and transmission of RF signals by photonic systems offers significant advantages to the military systems [7]. The integration of optics enables to decrease the size, to increase the bandwidth and to reduce the power dissipation of RF systems far beyond what can be obtained in pure electronic systems. Photonics structures that can extend the performance of RF systems were suggested and part of them was realized. In this paper three examples of novel photonic architectures for military use are presented.