BROADBAND COMPOSITE DIPOLE ANTENNA ARRAYS FOR OPTICAL WAVE MIXING

摘要

A broadband composite dipole array (CDA) includes an array of macro dipoles (100) on a non-conducting substrate adapted to receive radiation at two frequencies. Each macro dipole is an array of micro dipoles (10) adapted to receive radiation at substantially the mean of the two frequencies. The micro-dipoles are coupled to each other by a parallel resonant circuit (20) including a nonlinear element, wherein the minimum impedance of the circuit is a substantially short circuit at the difference frequency f1 - f2, and the circuit has a substantially open circuit impedance in the range of frequencies from f1 to f2. The micro dipoles resonate efficiently at both frequencies f1 and f2 with low-loss. The nonlinear element in the resonant circuit generates a signal at the difference frequency which is the resonant frequency of the macro dipole antenna. A composite of macro dipole antennas couple electromagnetically via a cluster (40) of micro-dipole elements (50) to broaden the bandwidth over a range of frequencies from f1 to f2 at which the macro dipole antenna resonates.