Receivers would be made much less vulnerable to electromagnetic weapons.

All-dielectric, non-electronic, photonicassisted front ends are being developed as alternatives to traditional metal antennas and the associated metal connections and input electronic circuitry of radio receivers — especially microwave receivers. The main motivation for this development is the need to make radio receivers much less vulnerable to electromagnetic weapons.

An electromagnetic weapon produces an electric power surge capable of destroying or damaging sensitive electronic circuitry. The trend toward reduced feature size and reduced voltage renders modern electronic circuitry increasingly susceptible to such damage. Radio communication systems are particularly vulnerable because antennas and other traditional front-end parts serve as direct ports of entry for undesired radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation. In equipping a receiver with a non-electronic, alldielectric front end, one would eliminate the traditional metal antenna and the associated metal interconnections and input electronic circuitry, thereby eliminating the main traditional points of electromagnetic vulnerability.

An Incident Radio Wave excites a desired resonance in a dielectric resonator antenna. The resonance-enhanced field acts via the electro-optical effect to modulate an optical carrier signal. The RF modulation in the photodetector output is a replica of the incident radio signal.