Abstract
We report on a theoretical study of an all-dielectric microwave photonic
receiver based on the optical whispering gallery mode resonator technology.
We show that dielectric near-field concentrators of microwave radiation
utilized with an all-dielectric whispering gallery mode microwave photonic
receiver front-end result in achieving sensitivity levels comparable to the
sensitivity of conventional metal-containing electronic receivers. On the
other hand, a dielectric resonator antenna that relies upon conventional
diffraction-limited high-Q microwave modes does not provide the required
sensitivity. We find fundamental restrictions on the sensitivity of the
receiver without specifying its design, and note that the receiver can be
more generally considered as a photonic implementation of an electric (E-)
field sensor with an electric field probe made of all-dielectric
RF-transparent parts. The geometrical dimensions of the electric field probe
can be much smaller than the wavelength of the measured electromagnetic
field in the material. Our theoretical calculations show that the sensor
allows detecting electric fields in a broad frequency range (100
Hz–20 GHz) with sensitivity exceeding 10 µV/[Hz<sup>½</sup> m].
© 2010 IEEE
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