Photonic integrated microwave phase shifter up to the mm-wave band with fast response time in silicon-on-insulator technology

An integrated silicon-on-insulator microwave photonic phase shifter is demonstrated, based on an optical deinterleaver providing box-like transfer function and a reverse-biased pn-junction waveguide optical phase shifter. The photonic integrated circuit is proved to precisely control the phase of microwave signals in a range of more than 400° with a fast reconfiguration time of 1 ns, with a broad bandwidth of more than 6 GHz around an RF carrier flexibly selectable between 10 and 16 GHz, and limited in-band RF power variations. Moreover, thanks to the periodic behavior of the deinterleaver, the device is demonstrated to correctly control the phase of signals in the mm-wave band (>30 GHz) as well. The performance guaranteed by the proposed microwave phase shifter suggests its use in demanding applications as rapidly reconfiguring phased array antennas in future wireless communications systems.