Abstract

GaAs photoconductive switches are proposed as front-end elements in ultrawideband wireless impulse communications systems. A theoretical discussion of receiver architectures is presented favoring a matched filter approach that leads to a simple architecture. Experimental results at 38 Mb/s show the resistance of impulse modulation to a narrowband interferer. Design of the photoconductive switches for efficiency is important, and some device measurements are reported showing trigger energies below 100 pJ.

© 1999 Optical Society of America