OPTOELECTRONICS--Devices and Technologies, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 491-504, December 1995.

(Received 26 June 1995; accepted for publication 9 August 1995)

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This paper presents an up-to-date review of the experimental and theoretical work on a novel femto-second electrical pulse generation technique using non-uniform illumination of transmission-line gaps. Theory on the physics of this pulse-generation technique is formulated and related to the experimental observables. Different approaches and approximations as well as main issues and problems in the modeling are discussed. The experimentally observed shoulders of the pulses are analyzed based on a two-dimensional numerical model.

Key Words Femto-second electrical pulse generation, non-uniform gap illumination, transmission lines, MSM photodiodes.

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