Optical technology for microwave applications II

BOOKS Optical fabrication and testing workshop: large telescope optics Edited by R.S. McDowell SPIE Proceedings, Volume 542, 1985, pp vi + 78, $52 This volume covers papers presented at a conference held in March 1985 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In these papers the design, fabrication and testing of large astronomical telescopes are considered with discussions on substrate fabrication, surface generation, and coating. Frequently encountered difficulties in large optics fabrication projects are also considered. Details are given of the optics for the 15 m National New Technology Telescope at Tucson, Arizona and the fabrication of the primary mirror for the Keck 10 m telescope at Berkeley, California. Some brief details are given about the 7.6 m University of Texas telescope. An overview of optical telescope technology is presented in which the next generation telescopes are discussed and there are accounts of components for future telescopes. Each of the 11 papers has references to recent work. H. G. Jerrard

Picosecond electronics and optoelectronics Edited by G.~ Mourou, D.M. Bloom and C-H. Lee Springer-Verlag, 1985, pp x + 258, DM 84 This volume contains the papers given at the first Picosecond Electronics and Optoelectronics Conference held at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, March 1985. It contains around 50 papers, ranging in length from three to four pages up to nine pages. These are divided into six sections; 'Ultrafast optics and electronics'; 'High-speed p h e n o m e n a in bulk semiconductors'; 'Quantum structures and applications'; 'Picosecond diode lasers'; 'Optoelectronics and photoconductive switching'; and 'Cryoelectronics'. The purpose of the conference was to foster and enhance the interaction between the disciplines of optics and electronics, an interaction of rapidly growing importance, with developments in ultrafast devices being one of the particularly active areas of interaction. This volume therefore offers a very useful and timely collection of material which provides useful pointers to the way ideas are developing in this field. In a short review it is hardly possible to do justice to the range of topics covered but some idea of this can perhaps be given by the titles of a few papers, one chosen from each of the six sections; 'Ultrafast optical electronics: from femtoseconds to terahertz'; 'New highspeed quantum well and variable gap superlattice devices'; "Picosecond processes in carrier transport theory'; "Fast multiple quantum well absorber for

OPTICS AND LASER TECHNOLOGY. JUNE 1986

mode-locking of semiconductor lasers'; '22-GHz bandwidth in G a A s / I n P PIN photodiodes'; 'Picosecond sampling with Josephson junctions'. D. C Hanna

Optical technology for microwave applications II Edited by Shi-kay Yao SPIE Proceedings, Volume 545, 1985, ISBN 0-89252-580-0, pp vi + 119, $47 The application of optical concepts and devices to the microwave field is becoming an increasingly important facet of microwave engineering. This volume of the proceedings contains 19 papers presented at a conference held in Washington DC in 1985 dealing with current work in this area. The papers are arranged into five sessions. The first session is concerned with wideband modulation of solid state lasers and the transmission of microwave signals via optical links. Several papers report direct modulation of GaA1As and I n G a A s P lasers at frequencies up to 17 G H z while another reports Q-switching of a I n G a A s P device at rates up to 14 GHz. A high speed InP photodetector is also described and the section includes a review of microwave fibre-optic links at 0.83 /xm. The second session is devoted to optics applied to microwave devices, largely at millimetre wavelengths. The mixture of papers includes work on optical techniques for high-frequency transistor testing, and 80 G H z optical front end, cooled .ferroelectrics for millimetre wave electro-optic devices, optically controlled phase-shifters and dielectric waveguides. The third session comprises two papers on phased array applications. The first concerns integrated optoelectronics for satellite transponders while the second discusses bulk acoustic wave spectrum analysers. The remaining two sessions deal mainly with acoustooptic components and architectures. Several papers review methods of enhancing Bragg cell performance, while another describes optical interactions with magnetostatic waves in YIG. Two papers discuss aspects of the interferometric Bragg cell spectrum analyser, namely, the effects of optical scatter, and the performance of a cascade-configuration based on G a P devices. Other papers concern acousto-optic techniques for correlation and synthetic aperture radar processing. In total, this volume represents an interesting though mixed collection of papers on the microwave-optics theme. It should be of assistance to both microwave and optical engineers in keeping abreast of recent progress in the USA in this expanding area. P. V. Gatenby

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