Microwave sources are central to modern technologies ranging from radar and directed energy to medical applications, yet conventional electronic approaches face long-standing trade-offs between output power and tunability. Optoelectronic techniques offer a promising alternative by combining the broad bandwidth of optical systems with the high power-handling capability of wide-bandgap semiconductors. Here we show an optoelectronic microwave source based on fast-response silicon carbide, enabling picosecond-scale control of photogenerated carrier lifetime while sustaining power-handling capacities up to 55 MW. The system generates continuously tunable pulsed microwave emission across the P–L band, delivering peak output power exceeding 1 MW over the 0.25–1.3 GHz range and exhibiting stable nanosecond-scale pulse operation. The generated pulses exhibit low timing jitter and highly efficient power combining in array operation. These results demonstrate a scalable route toward high-power, broadband, and flexible microwave sources, enabling applications that demand simultaneous control over frequency, energy, and spatial distribution.
Niu et al. (Sat,) studied this question.