Optical up-conversion for passive millimeter-wave imaging

Andrew Robert Harvey; Paul M. Blanchard; Graham M. Smith; Ken Webster; Alain H. Greenaway

doi:10.1117/12.277071

27 June 1997 Optical up-conversion for passive millimeter-wave imaging

Andrew Robert Harvey, Paul M. Blanchard, Graham M. Smith, Ken Webster, Alain H. Greenaway

Proceedings Volume 3064, Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.277071
Event: AeroSense '97, 1997, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

Passive imaging at millimeter wavelengths is a constant struggle for increased sensitivity and angular resolution. Aperture synthesis is a particularly attractive technique for attacking these problems since it offers a high resolution from a given total antennas area and greater flexibility in the positioning of the antenna elements. This in turn can lead to a greater total collecting area and hence greater sensitivity than might be achievable with a single scanned antenna and with the additional benefit of electronic scanning. The high loss of millimeter-wave transmission lines means that received signals must be frequency translated to a more suitable frequency prior to transport to correlators. Although down conversion enables transmission by coaxial cables, up conversion onto optical carriers enables very low-loss optical fibers to be used for transmission and electronically programmable delay lines. In this paper we describe proof-of-principle experiments that demonstrate the application of optical up-conversion in aperture synthesis and also the direct formation of an image on a conventional optical camera from millimeter-wave signals modulated onto an optical carrier.

Citation Download Citation

Andrew Robert Harvey, Paul M. Blanchard, Graham M. Smith, Ken Webster, and Alain H. Greenaway "Optical up-conversion for passive millimeter-wave imaging", Proc. SPIE 3064, Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology, (27 June 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.277071

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