Toward a Scalable Photonic Tightly Coupled Array for 5G Applications

We present a tightly coupled array (TCA) antenna excited by an array of high-power photodiodes bonded directly to the antenna dipole feed-points. This single-step bonding approach defines a path toward scalable, monolithic solutions that reduce fabrication complexity while retaining ultra-wideband operation and the improvements to size, weight, and power afforded to photonic arrays. Circuit and full-wave simulations are conducted for a doubly infinite TCA with a 1 × 4 active photodiode array. The proposed photonic TCA exhibits high radiation efficiency between 15 and 65 GHz.