Recent progress of parameter-adjustable high-power photonic microwave generation based on wide-bandgap photoconductive semiconductors

Radio frequency/microwave-directed energy sources using wide bandgap SiC photoconductive semiconductors have attracted much attention due to their unique advantages of high-power output and multi-parameter adjustable ability.Over the past several years,benefitting from the sustainable innovations in laser technology and the significant progress in materials technology,megawatt-class output power electrical pulses with a flexible frequency in the P and L microwave wavebands have been achieved by photoconductive semiconductor devices.Here,we mainly summarize and review the recent progress of the high-power photonic microwave generation based on the SiC photoconductive semiconductor devices in the linear modulation mode,including the mechanism,system architecture,critical technology,and experimental demonstration of the proposed high-power photonic microwave sources.The outlooks and challenges for the future of multi-channel power synthesis development of higher power photonic microwave using wide bandgap photoconductors are also discussed.