Numerical Design of New RF Photonic Devices

Controlling millimeter radio frequency waves with optical signals is a requirement for military communications and radar systems. The advances in the past decade have led to photonic sensors and switches that utilize light beams interacting with RF devices. New capabilities extending to higher frequencies and working over multiple frequency bands are possible using a combination of nonlinear optical materials, synthetic band gap structures, and relativistic doppler shifting within mm wave devices. To study the application of devices that make use of these phenomena, a simulation capability is proposed. This capability will provide a virtual lab in which the design of these new devices can be initiated, laying the ground work for future verification and testing. The simulation method will use a Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) algorithm modified to include relativistic effects and nonlinear interactions between optical and RF signals.