Applications In Microwave Signal Processing Research Articles

Thermal Modulation of Gigahertz Surface Acoustic Waves on Lithium Niobate

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices have wide range of applications in microwave signal processing. Microwave SAW components benefit from higher quality factors and much smaller crosstalk when compared to their electromagnetic counterparts. Efficient routing and modulation of SAWs are essential for building large-scale and versatile acoustic-wave circuits. Here, we demonstrate integrated thermo-acoustic modulators using two SAW platforms: bulk lithium niobate and thin-film lithium niobate on sapphire. In both approaches, the gigahertz-frequency SAWs are routed by integrated acoustic waveguides while on-chip microheaters are used to locally change the temperature and thus control the phase of SAW. Using this approach, we achieved phase changes of over 720 degrees with the responsibility of 2.6 deg/mW for bulk lithium niobate and 0.52 deg/mW for lithium niobate on sapphire. Furthermore, we demonstrated amplitude modulation of SAWs using acoustic Mach Zehnder interferometers. Our thermo-acoustic modulators can enable reconfigurable acoustic signal processing for next generation wireless communications and microwave systems.

Efficient and wideband acousto-optic modulation on thin-film lithium niobate for microwave-to-photonic conversion

Microwave photonics, a field that crosscuts microwave/millimeter-wave engineering with optoelectronics, has sparked great interest from research and commercial sectors. This multidisciplinary fusion can achieve ultrawide bandwidth and ultrafast speed that were considered impossible in conventional chip-scale microwave/millimeter-wave systems. Conventional microwave-to-photonic converters, based on resonant acousto-optic modulation, produce highly efficient modulation but sacrifice bandwidth and limit their applicability for most real-world microwave signal-processing applications. In this paper, we build highly efficient and wideband microwave-to-photonic modulators using the acousto-optic effect on suspended lithium niobate thin films. A wideband microwave signal is first piezoelectrically transduced using interdigitated electrodes into Lamb acoustic waves, which directly propagates across an optical waveguide and causes refractive index perturbation through the photoelastic effect. This approach is power-efficient, with phase shifts up to 0.0166 rad / √ mW over a 45 μm modulation length and with a bandwidth up to 140 MHz at a center frequency of 1.9 GHz. Compared to the state-of-the-art, a 9 × more efficient modulation has been achieved by optimizing the acoustic and optical modes and their interactions.

On-chip optical true time delay lines based on subwavelength grating waveguides.

An optical true time delay line (OTTDL) is a fundamental building block for signal processing applications in microwave photonics and optical communications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an index-variable OTTDL based on an array of 40 subwavelength grating (SWG) waveguides in silicon-on-insulator. Each SWG waveguide in the array is 34 mm long and arranged in a serpentine manner; the average incremental delay between waveguides is about 4.7 ps, and the total delay between the first and last waveguides is approximately 181.9 ps. The waveguide array occupies a chip area of ∼6.5mm×8.7mm=56.55mm2. The proposed OTTDLs bring potential advantages in terms of compactness as well as operation versatility to a variety of microwave signal processing applications.

Tuning magnetic properties of magnetoelectric BiFeO 3–NiFe 2O 4 nanostructures

Multifunctional thin film nanostructures containing soft magnetic materials such as nickel ferrite are interesting for potential applications in microwave signal processing because of the possibility to shrink the size of device architecture and limit device power consumption. An essential prerequisite to future applications of such a system is a firm understanding of its magnetic properties. We show that nanostructures composed of ferrimagnetic NiFe 2O 4 pillars in a multiferroic BiFeO 3 matrix can be tuned magnetically by altering the aspect ratio of the pillars by depositing films of varying thickness. Magnetic anisotropy is studied using ferromagnetic resonance, which shows that the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in the growth direction changes sign upon increasing the film thickness. The magnitude of this anisotropy contribution can be explained via a combination of shape and magnetostatic effects, using the object-oriented micromagnetic framework (OOMMF). The key factors determining the magnetic properties of the films are shown to be the aspect ratio of individual pillars and magnetostatic interactions between neighboring pillars.

Tunable microwave photonic filter based on a fiber ring and erbium-doped fiber amplifier

The tunable microwave photonic filter based on a fiber ring and erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was proposed. By introducing a section of erbium-doped fiber (EDF) into the fiber ring, the loss of the signal can be compensated by the EDFA gain through adjusting the pump power. This can largely increase the number of the effective sampling taps, and then improve the performance of the microwave photonic filter notably. When the pump power was set to be 42.7 mW, a microwave bandpass filter with the 3-dB bandwidth of 0.15 MHz, the Q factor up to 100 and extinction ratio up to 20 dB was achieved. By employing a tunable optical delay line in the above fiber ring, a tunable microwave photonic filter has been realized through tuning the length of the optical delay line. The proposed tunable microwave photonic filter can find great applications in microwave signal processing and ROF system.

Magnetic vortex oscillator driven by d.c. spin-polarized current

Transfer of angular momentum from a spin-polarized current to a ferromagnet provides an efficient means to control the dynamics of nanomagnets. A peculiar consequence of this spin-torque, the ability to induce persistent oscillations of a nanomagnet by applying a dc current, has previously been reported only for spatially uniform nanomagnets. Here we demonstrate that a quintessentially nonuniform magnetic structure, a magnetic vortex, isolated within a nanoscale spin valve structure, can be excited into persistent microwave-frequency oscillations by a spin-polarized dc current. Comparison to micromagnetic simulations leads to identification of the oscillations with a precession of the vortex core. The oscillations, which can be obtained in essentially zero magnetic field, exhibit linewidths that can be narrower than 300 kHz, making these highly compact spin-torque vortex oscillator devices potential candidates for microwave signal-processing applications, and a powerful new tool for fundamental studies of vortex dynamics in magnetic nanostructures.

Nonlinear Ferrite Film Microwave Signal Processing for Advanced Communications—Physics and Devices

Microwave ferrite devices, including circulators, isolators, and phase shifters, have played a crucial role in the development of radar and other microwave signal processing applications. Recent work has advanced the basic understanding and applications for a wide range of new nonlinear spin wave phenomena in ferrite films. With the help of feedback and parametric pumping interactions, these spin wave phenomena can serve as the basis for phase locked frequency comb generators, wideband chaotic microwave oscillators, and microwave pulse multiplexers, among other devices.

Analog reflection topology building blocks for adaptive microwave signal processing applications

The synthesis and realization of an analog-phase shifter, delay line, attenuator, and group delay synthesizer-are presented. These variable control devices are all implemented using the same generic single stage reflection topology. The optimum conditions of operation have been determined and the corresponding group delay behaviors have been investigated to produce simple design equations. As proof-of-concepts, monolithic technology has been used to realize an X-band, phase shifter, delay line, and attenuator. Hybrid technology has been used to realize an L-band, group-delay synthesizer. Because of the high levels of performance measured, these control devices are ideally suited for use as general building blocks in adaptive signal processing applications, including large phased array applications.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Suppression of higher-order thickness modes in magnetostatic forward volume wave delay lines

This paper presents a theoretical study of suppression of undesired higher-order thickness modes excited in magnetostatic forward volume delay lines. This can be done by using the exciting and receiving transducers deposited directly on the top of an yttrium iron garnet film. Though this geometry has been used before, this paper describes more detailed investigation. Numerical results obtained are quite useful and encouraging. The magnetostatic volume wave delay lines have potential applications in microwave signal processing with larger operating bandwidth directly at microwave frequencies.