High Power Tunable Agile Notch Filter Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2008.1 Topic No.: N08-027 Topic Title: High Power Tunable Agile Notch Filter Proposal No.: N081-027-0186 Firm: Physical Optics Corporation Applied Technologies Division 20600 Gramercy Place, Bldg.100 Torrance, California 90501-1821 Contact: Daniel Bock Phone: (310) 320-3088 Web Site: www.poc.com Abstract: To address the Navy need for an agile notch filtering system, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new High Power Tunable Agile Notch (HIPTAN) filter. This proposed device is based on a newly designed superconducting varactor MEMS capacitor which exhibits high-Q and low-loss characteristics at liquid Nitrogen temperatures. The innovation in the superconducting varactor will enable HIPTAN to quickly (<1 microsecond) change the impedance to shift the location and width of the notch filter with minimal insertion loss (<0.5 dB). By applying voltage to the device, it can change the notch location anywhere in the VHF to L-band, providing notch width from 10 kHz to 10 MHz. Using MEMS components will enable HIPTAN to be fabricated in semiconductor batch processes and operate at a temperature of 77 K. In Phase I POC will demonstrate the feasibility of HIPTAN by fabricating a single filter element and showing its capability to be dynamically adjusted. In Phase II POC plans to develop a full prototype with several filter elements working in tandem to create an agile RF notch filter for testing at government facilities and demonstration in an actual jamming system and actual CNI systems. Benefits: The development of the HIPTAN device will allow a new generation of agile high power RF filters. HIPTAN will provide the capability to tune the notch filter dynamically, and can be used in the telecommunications industry for lower insertion loss, low reflected power, fast response, and large dynamic range of operation when compared to other RF filters. The commercial applications include installation into cell phone towers, satellite telecommunication platforms, commercial aircraft that require RF dynamic filters for band switching, and any other device that requires the capability to change RF filters during operations. Return