Performance issues with photonic beamformers

A photonic beamformer is presented, having smooth behavior. Third-order nonlinearities, resulting from its optoelectronic components, are investigated, with emphasis on their impact on the contrast of imaging radars. This contrast is shown to be severely limited by the induced RF nonlinearities. Limitations on the allowable modulation index are studied for linearly-chirped pulses returned from clutter.