Method for providing beam steering in a subaperture-addressed optical beam steerer
First Claim
1. A method for steering an incident electromagnetic beam using a beam steerer, said beam steerer comprising a multiplicity of phase shifters divided among a plurality of identical, internally connected subarrays, said subarrays being permanently connected and addressed in parallel, said method comprising:
- a. identically subdividing each subarray into a plurality of periods; and
b. applying voltages to said phase shifters of each subarray such that there results a staircase profile of voltages applied to the phase shifters of each period.
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Abstract
A practical means for electrically addressing the extremely large number and high density of phase shifters needed for operation of an optical phased array beam steerer. The array of phase shifters is subdivided into identical subarrays which completely fill an optical aperture. All subarrays are connected electrically in parallel by electrically interconnecting corresponding electrodes of each subarray. Methods are disclosed herein for providing an enhanced number of beam steering positions for the subaperture-addressed beam steerer.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for steering an incident electromagnetic beam using a beam steerer, said beam steerer comprising a multiplicity of phase shifters divided among a plurality of identical, internally connected subarrays, said subarrays being permanently connected and addressed in parallel, said method comprising:
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a. identically subdividing each subarray into a plurality of periods; and b. applying voltages to said phase shifters of each subarray such that there results a staircase profile of voltages applied to the phase shifters of each period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for steering an optical beam using a subarray-addressed beam steerer, said beam steerer comprising an array of optical phase shifters having a common electrode on a first surface thereof, a multiplicity of S parallel stripe electrodes on a second surface thereof, and an electro-optic phase shifting medium intermediate said first and second surfaces;
- M interconnects, each interconnect being coupled to S/M of said stripe electrodes, wherein the ith interconnect is coupled to each of the (i+jM)th stripe electrodes for all integer values of j from 0 to (S/M)-1; and
means for coupling M control signals individually between said M interconnects and said common electrode, thereby creating local variations of refractive index in said phase shifting medium, said method comprising;a. identically subdividing each subarray into a plurality of periods; and
b. applying voltages to said phase shifters of each subarray such that there results a staircase profile of voltages applied to said phase shifters of each period. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
- M interconnects, each interconnect being coupled to S/M of said stripe electrodes, wherein the ith interconnect is coupled to each of the (i+jM)th stripe electrodes for all integer values of j from 0 to (S/M)-1; and
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11. A method for providing a beam position for an incident electromagnetic beam using a beam steerer, said beam steerer comprising a multiplicity of phase shifters divided among a plurality of identical, internally connected subarrays, said subarrays being permanently connected and addressed in parallel, said method comprising:
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a. identically subdividing each subarray into m periods, said m periods including N1, N2, . . . , Nm phase shifters, where N1 +N2 +. . . +Nm equals the number of phase shifters in each of said identical subarrays; and b. applying voltages to said phase shifters of each subarray such that there results a staircase profile of voltages applied to said phase shifters of each period, wherein said beam is steered to an off-boresight angle determined by Θ
=sin-1 [λ
(1/N1 +1/N2 +. . . +1/Nm)/mΛ
0 ], where λ
is the freespace wavelength of said beam, and Λ
0 is the spacing between said phase shifters. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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Specification