Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Munoz, Pascual
• Pastor, Daniel
• Bru, Luis Alberto
• Cabanes, Gloria Mico
• Benitez, Jesus
• Goodwill, Dominic
• Bernier, Eric

Titel

Scalable Switched Slab Coupler Based Optical Phased Array on Silicon Nitride

Ist Teil von

• IEEE journal of selected topics in quantum electronics, 2022-09, Vol.28 (5: Lidars and Photonic Radars), p.1-16

Ort / Verlag

New York: IEEE

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

IEEE Xplore

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A two-dimensional optical-phased array is demonstrated by using a multiple-input star coupler, compatible with FMCW LiDAR. Previous approach using a single-input design achieves two-dimensional beam-steering by relying on a tunable laser source, taking advantage of grating coupler radiation angle wavelength dependance and variation of the waveguide refractive index. While implementing a convenient way to distribute power in a single step, star coupler architecture is inefficient in terms of employed waveguide length and thus, optical loss and footprint. Multi-input approach partially alleviates this by condensing several single-input devices into one, permitting to reduce the footprint proportionally to the employed number of inputs. We fabricated in silicon nitride technology a proof of concept steerer with beam waist 0.36<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> ×0.175<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> addressing a field of view of 15<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> ×2.8<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula>. A new design iteration is also reported with and 0.24<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> ×0.16<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> beam waist and 15<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> ×11.2<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">^\circ</tex-math></inline-formula> field of view. Implications of this optical-phased array chips from a LiDAR system perspective are also presented.