We have devised and implemented a new low-loss microstrip transmission structure on LTCC substrate by including void cavities in the dielectric layer between conductor strip and ground plane. Measurements of λ/4 T-resonators with the novel microstrip structure reveal total loss of 0.0126dB/mm and Q-factor of 267 at 15.85GHz. The dielectric loss is analyzed as small as 0.0005dB/mm at the frequency, and that is equivalent to an improvement of a factor of 18 compared to the conventional LTCC microstrip structure. The proposed microstrip structure with the embedded void cavities is suited for low loss LTCC based RF-MCM applications.

To measure temperature dependent complex permittivity of dielectric materials, a rectangular cavity resonator with a heating system has been developed. In the experiment, microwave power with the frequency of 2.45 GHz is applied to heat the dielectric material. In order to reduce the error of the complex permittivity of dielectric material obtained from the perturbation method, an electromagnetic (EM) field simulator is applied which uses the Transmission Line Modeling (TLM) method. The uniformity of the temperature is also discussed by the use of heat transfer equation which applies the results of TLM simulation. It is found from the results that the accurate temperature dependence of complex permittivity of the material can be obtained by the method presented here.

The radar cross section (RCS) of a dielectric-coated cylindrical cavity was measured and the measurements were compared with those calculated according to the iterative physical optics (IPO). The IPO analysis used the equivalent-impedance boundary condition (EIBC) based on transmission-line theory which takes into account the thickness of the coating. It was consequently found that this condition is much more effective than the ordinary-impedance boundary condition based on the intrinsic impedance of the material.

A 5.3-GHz klystron has been recently designed and fabricated. In many countries, the transmitting frequency of 5.6 GHz (5,600 to 5,650 MHz) is commonly used for C-band meteorological radars. However, 5.3 GHz is generally used in Japan. To detect low-level wind shears by a Doppler radar, it is essential to use a MOPA (Master Oscillator and Power Amplifier) that generates stable coherent microwaves. The klystron is most suitable for this purpose. However, there are no commercially available klystrons in C-band that operate at 5.3 GHz. We developed a klystron for this band, making use of a simulation technique originally devised for S- and X-bands. The klystron operates at frequencies between 5,250 and 5,350 MHz. The typical operating parameters are a peak output power of 200 kW, a pulse width of 1 µs, and an RF duty cycle of 0.002. The klystron, including the electromagnet for focusing the magnetic field, is approximately 67 cm long with a diameter of 40 cm and a weight of 162 kg. Phase modulation is suppressed below 20% of the phase change required for the minimum resolution of Doppler velocity measurement by the radar for which this klystron is employed. The klystron shows favorable performance for Doppler radars operated in major airports in Japan.

A stabilized local oscillator is one of the key components for any radar system, especially for a Doppler radar in detecting slowly moving targets. Based on hybrid semiconductor/superconductor circuitry, the HTS local oscillator produces stable, low noise performance superior to that achieved with conventional technology. The device combines a high Q HTS sapphire cavity resonator (f=5.6 GHz) with a C-band low noise GsAs HEMT amplifier. The phase noise of the oscillator, measured by a HP 3048A noise measurement system, is -134 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset at 77 K.

The vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is becoming a key device in high-speed optical local-area networks (LANs) and even wide-area networks (WANs). This device is also enabling ultra parallel data transfer in equipment and computer systems. In this paper, we will review its physics and the progress of technology covering the spectral band from infrared to ultraviolet by featuring materials, fabrication technology, and performances such as threshold, output power, polarization, modulation and reliability. Lastly, we will touch on its future prospects.

We have demonstrated active mode hopping suppression in external-cavity semiconductor lasers including a diffraction grating as a wavelength-selecting device. The feedback control nullifies the difference between the oscillation wavelength and selected wavelength based on observed changes in diffraction angle. The control has suppressed mode hopping over a 7.5 times wider span than without control. And when combined with conventional mode hopping suppression techniques, mode-hop-free oscillation is achieved over 130 nm. Our approach can be used for most Littman-type external-cavity semiconductor lasers with simple attachments; it will be useful for continuous wavelength sweeping and for long-term wavelength stabilization.

A tunable external-cavity InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well laser using a grating coupler monolithically integrated in a selectively disordered waveguide is demonstrated. The laser consists of an amplifier with a narrow channel for lateral single-mode guiding and a tapered section, a grating coupler for output beam collimation and wavelength dispersion, and an external half mirror. Selective quantum-well disordering technique using SiO2 caps of different thicknesses and rapid thermal annealing was employed to reduce the passive waveguide loss in the grating coupler region. Loss reduction from 40 cm-1 to 3 cm-1 was accomplished. Resultant increase of the grating coupler efficiency and expansion of the effective aperture length led to significant improvement of the laser performances. The maximum output power of 105 mW and wide tuning range of 21.1 nm centered at 997 nm were obtained. The well collimated output beam of full diffraction angles at half maximum of 0.16 0.18 was obtained.

We investigate the engineering of the impurity bands in photonic crystals (PCs) for realizing high-efficiency wave guiding, all-optical switching and optical delay for ultrashort optical pulses. It is found that quasi-flat impurity bands suitable for the transmission of ultrashort pulses can be achieved by properly controlling the configuration of coupled cavity waveguides (CCWs). At sharp corners, high bending efficiency is obtained over the entire impurity band. All-optical switching can be realized by creating a dynamical band gap at the center of an impurity band. The concentration of electromagnetic wave at defect regions leads to high switching efficiency while the tunable feature of PC defects makes all-optical control possible. It is also revealed that CCWs with quasi-flat impurity bands provide efficient group delay for ultrashort pulses with negligible attenuation and distortion. From the viewpoint of practical fabrication, the effect of disorder on the transmission property of impurity bands is discussed and the criterion for localization transition is determined.

A low-profile bi-directional cavity antenna has been developed for the IMT-2000 indoor base stations. The geometrical relationships required for the design of an antenna with broadband impedance characteristics, which are obtained as a superposition of two resonant modes (M-antenna + metal case), are presented. The approximate equations describing the resonant frequencies associated with the two resonant modes are derived. By using the equations, a cavity antenna with dimensions of 120 mm 120 mm 12 mm and a fractional bandwidth of 18.3% (VSWR <2) that meets the IMT-2000 specification can be designed successfully. The proposed design procedure of the antenna is confirmed by the measurements.

A novel temperature insensitive wavelength filter consisting of GaAlAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) has been demonstrated. This micromachined DBR is mechanically tuned by differential thermal expansion. The strain-induced displacement of one mirror can generate wavelength tuning and trimming functions with an adjustable temperature dependence. We succeeded in the control of temperature dependence in this micromachined semiconductor filter by properly designing a vertical cavity structure. The achieved temperature dependence was as small as +0.01 nm/K, which is one-tenth of that of conventional semiconductor based optical filters. Also, a wavelength trimming of over 20 nm was demonstrated after completing the device fabrication. In addition, we demonstrated a 4 4 multiple wavelength micromachined vertical cavity filter array. The multi-wavelength filter array with a wavelength span of 45 nm was fabricated by partially etching off a GaAs wavelength control layer loaded on the top surface of device.

A novel temperature insensitive wavelength filter consisting of GaAlAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) has been demonstrated. This micromachined DBR is mechanically tuned by differential thermal expansion. The strain-induced displacement of one mirror can generate wavelength tuning and trimming functions with an adjustable temperature dependence. We succeeded in the control of temperature dependence in this micromachined semiconductor filter by properly designing a vertical cavity structure. The achieved temperature dependence was as small as +0.01 nm/K, which is one-tenth of that of conventional semiconductor based optical filters. Also, a wavelength trimming of over 20 nm was demonstrated after completing the device fabrication. In addition, we demonstrated a 4 4 multiple wavelength micromachined vertical cavity filter array. The multi-wavelength filter array with a wavelength span of 45 nm was fabricated by partially etching off a GaAs wavelength control layer loaded on the top surface of device.

We describe the fabrication method and characteristics of hybrid external cavity lasers composed of a spot-size converter integrated LD (SS-LD) and a UV written Bragg grating in a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) on a Si substrate. The SS-LD is passively aligned on a Si platform formed in the PLC, and the UV grating is created in the PLC with ArF laser irradiation through a phase mask. This structure enables us to fabricate a stable single-mode laser with a precisely controllable oscillation wavelength. By using the above techniques, we obtained a threshold current of 7-8 mA and a side mode suppression of 37 dB for an external cavity laser operating at 1.3 µm. Moreover, we successfully demonstrated a four-channel external cavity laser with a wavelength interval of 2 nm 0.1 nm by integrating 4 SS-LDs on a PLC and controlling the Bragg wavelengths with ArF laser irradiation without a phase mask.

For measuring high frequency ultrasonic fields which are often spatially distributed and transient, an array probe with small element sensors is highly required. In this paper, we propose a fiber-optic micro-probe array which is based on wavelength-division-multiplexing technique. The element sensor consists of a micro optical cavity of 100 µm long made at the end of optical fiber. Optical path length of the cavity is changed by the applied acoustic field, and the modulation of output light intensity is monitored at another end of the fiber for the information of the acoustic field. Array of sensor elements and a light source as well as a photo detector are connected together by an optical star coupler. The Fabry-Perot resonance wavelength of each sensor element is designed different one another, and the outputs from the sensors are discriminated by sweeping the wavelength of light source with the use of a tunable semiconductor laser. In this paper, the performance of the micro-probe array is discussed experimentally.

The wall admittance of an arbitrarily shaped microstrip antenna is generally formulated. As examples, elliptical microstrip antennas with and without a circular slot are calculated. The wall admittance is determined by the spectral domain analysis in order to consider the effect of the dielectric substrate. The electromagnetic fields within the cavity are expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions in the cylindrical coordinate system and their expansion coefficients are determined by applying the impedance boundary condition at the aperture in the sense of the least squares. The calculated input impedance and axial ratio agree fairly well with the experimental data. The proposed method is valid for the microstrip antennas with a patch whose geometry deviates from the particular coordinate system, such as single-feed circularly polarized microstrip antennas.

The growth and saturation characteristics of an electromagnetic (EM) wave in a Smith-Purcell free-electron laser (FEL) with a Bragg cavity are investigated in detail with the aid of numerical simulation based upon the fluid model of the electron beam. To analyze the problem, a two-dimensional (2-D) model of the Smith-Purcell FEL is considered. The model consists of a planar relativistic electron beam and a parallel plate metallic waveguide, which has a uniform grating carved on one plate. For confinement and extraction of EM waves, a Bragg cavity is formed by a couple of reflector gratings with proper spatial period and length, which are connected at both ends of the waveguide. The results of numerical simulation show that a compact Smith-Purcell FEL can be realized by using a Bragg cavity composed of metallic gratings.

A cavity-backed two-element rectangular loop slot antenna for circular polarization is presented and investigated by using the generalized network formulation based on the equivalence principle. By applying the method of moments, the magnetic current including the effect of the cavity is obtained for a thin rectangular loop slot. Two short-circuiting points are introduced on the slots to get circular polarization and symmetrical radiation pattern. The axial ratio bandwidth (3 dB) with VSWR (2) reaches 7.6%. The measured and computed results are in good agreement.

The formulation of the wall admittance of a circular microstrip antenna by the spectral domain method is presented. The circular microstrip antenna is calculated using the cavity model. The electromagnetic fields within the antenna cavity are determined from the impedance boundary condition at the side aperture. The contribution from the region outside the antenna is taken into account by the wall admittance. The wall admittance is defined by the magnetic field produced by the equivalent magnetic current at the aperture. The magnetic field is calculated by the spectral domain method. The wall admittances obtained by this method are compared with the results calculated by Shen. The calculated input impedances of the microstrip antenna agree fairly well with the experimental data for the substrate thickness of up to 0.048λg. The formulation of wall admittance presented here is easily applicable to arbitrarily shaped microstrip antennas.

Extremely small aperture radial line slot antennas (RLSAs) are analyzed by method of moments. At first, the analysis model of cylindrical waveguide in terms of rectangular cavity modes is confirmed for a RLSA with a spiral slot arrangement. The overall VSWR as well as rotational symmetry of the actual structure of RLSAs is predicted for the first time and is confirmed experimentally. Secondly, the minimum diameter of the concentric array RLSA is estimated for which the conventional analysis model of a rectangular waveguide is valid for the design of matching slot pairs at the shorted periphery of the radial waveguide. It is found that the curvature and cylindrical short wall at aperture periphery must be considered in the design and analysis of small RLSAs with the gain lower than about 25 dBi.

This paper shows an analysis of electromagnetic scattering from an open-ended rectangular cylinder for a plane wave incidence. The internal region is separated into two areas by additional plates to investigate the cavity resonance in detail. The applied numerical technique is the point matching method taking account of the edge condition. As numerical examples, the radar cross section is presented for E - polarized case and H - polarized case. Physical meanings of the computational results are discussed with a view to the contribution of the iris.