FREE-SPACE POWER COMBINING AND BEAM-STEERING OF ULTRA-WIDE-BAND RADIATION USING AN ARRAY OF LASER-TRIGGERED ANTENNAS

A mode-locked laser is used to synchronize jitter-free ultrawideband ( UWB) pulse generation at an array of UWB I antenna elements, The jitte r-free pulses radiated by each element I add together in free space to produce a radiated held pattern that is steerable via optical true-ti me-delay techniques, The results from a three element array experiment are presented and used to develop a model for an N-element phased arr ay, A transmission-line model is presented for a single array element, which includes the functions;of energy storage, as well as UWB pulse generation and radiation.