Picosecond-domain radiation pattern measurement using fiber-coupled photoconductive antenna

Abstract

The photoconductive terahertz measurement technique was used for measurement of the radiation pattern from thick metal slits. Picosecond pulses were generated and detected by an ultrafast optoelectronic technique using a femtosecond pulse laser and a subpicosecond photoconductor. Photoconductive sampling measurements of the polarization-dependent diffraction of the picosecond electromagnetic pulses showed the highly polarized radiation characteristics of the photoconductive probing antenna (PCPA) with the finite-difference time-domain simulation. The radiation patterns from the slits were measured using a fiber-coupled PCPA. Investigation of the spatiotemporal radiation pattern from a thick metal slit shows the usefulness of the present measurement setup for time-domain and broadband antenna characterization. Together with the time-domain radiation pattern, the frequency-domain radiation pattern from the experimental transient response is presented in both amplitude and phase. It is demonstrated that the time-domain radiation pattern measurement using the photoconductive terahertz radiation technique is a promising characterization method for millimeter-wave and submillimeter-wave antenna time-domain testing.