A novel two-element active antenna for varying the direction of microwave radiation by optical illumination

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel two-element active antenna for optical scanning beam in X-band. A MESFET in the element antenna works both as a negative resistance and an optically controllable reactance. Laser illumination to the MESFET in one of the antenna elements causes a shift of its free-running frequency and creates a phase difference between the oscillations of the two antenna elements; therefore, the radiation beam can be scanned. In experimental results, the beam direction has been scanned by 26 degrees optically.