Light-controlled photonics-based mm-wave beam switch.

We present experimental investigation of light-controlled photonics-enhanced quasi-optical mm-wave beam switch operating at a resonant frequency in the mm-wave band of 75 to 110 GHz. The switch is implemented as a Bragg structure with a resonant layer of high-resistivity silicon that creates a narrow transmission peak within the mm-wave propagation gap. The peak amplitude is sensitive to the intensity of light pulses illuminating the structure. When using a silicon wafer of 30 KOhm · cm resistivity and light pulses created by a 400W LED-array light source, we achieved mm-wave transmission peak modulation exceeding 15 dB.

Physical optics modeling of 2D dielectric lenses.

We propose an advanced physical optics formulation for the accurate modeling of dielectric lenses used in quasi-optical systems of millimeter, submillimeter, and infrared wave applications. For comparison, we obtain an exact full-wave solution of a two-dimensional lens problem and use it as a benchmark for testing and validation of asymptotic models being considered.

Efficient computation of the broadband beam sidelobes exemplified by the Planck high-frequency instrument.

Simulation of broadband far sidelobes of large submillimeter-wave telescopes exemplified by the European Space Agency Planck high-frequency instrument (HFI) beams is analyzed. Optimal sampling of the far side-lobes is considered. A universal and efficient method for computing the broadband sidelobes is proposed that makes the full-sky broadband HFI beam simulations feasible.