Solid state LIDAR circuit with waveguides tunable to separate phase offsets
First Claim
1. A circuit device comprising:
- an array of waveguides in a substrate coupled to a splitter that splits source light into the array of waveguides;
an insulating layer on the substrate, the insulating layer having an opening to expose a portion of a path of the array of waveguides;
a liquid crystal layer on the insulating layer and on the portion of the path of the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer, wherein a voltage across the liquid crystal layer is to cause a greater phase shift in a given waveguide relative to another waveguide in the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer; and
a coupler integrated in the substrate to receive light from the array of waveguides and couple the light through the liquid crystal layer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A solid state photonics circuit having a liquid crystal (LC) layer for beam steering. The LC layer can provide tuning of an array of waveguides by controlling the application of voltage to the liquid crystal. The application of voltage to the liquid crystal can be controlled to perform beam steering with the light signal based on different tuning in each of the waveguides of the array. The waveguides are disposed in a substrate having an oxide or other insulating layer with an opening. The opening in the oxide layer exposes a portion of a path of the array of waveguides. The waveguides are exposed to the liquid crystal through the oxide opening, which allows the voltage changes to the liquid crystal to tune the optical signals in the waveguides.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A circuit device comprising:
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an array of waveguides in a substrate coupled to a splitter that splits source light into the array of waveguides; an insulating layer on the substrate, the insulating layer having an opening to expose a portion of a path of the array of waveguides; a liquid crystal layer on the insulating layer and on the portion of the path of the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer, wherein a voltage across the liquid crystal layer is to cause a greater phase shift in a given waveguide relative to another waveguide in the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer; and a coupler integrated in the substrate to receive light from the array of waveguides and couple the light through the liquid crystal layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An integrated photonic chip comprising:
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an array of waveguides integrated in a substrate; a splitter integrated in the substrate to receive source light from a laser and split the source light into the array of waveguides; an insulating layer on the substrate, the insulating layer having an opening to expose a portion of a path of the array of waveguides; a liquid crystal layer on the insulating layer and on the portion of the path of the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer, wherein a voltage across the liquid crystal layer is to cause a greater phase shift in a given waveguide relative to another waveguide in the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer; and photodetectors integrated in the substrate to receive light from the waveguides as a reference signal to compare against detected far field scattered light. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A circuit device comprising:
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an array of waveguides in a substrate coupled to a splitter that splits source light into the array of waveguides; an insulating layer on the substrate, the insulating layer having an opening to expose a portion of a path of the array of waveguides, wherein the opening is to expose more of a given waveguide than an adjacent waveguide of the array of waveguides; and a liquid crystal layer on the insulating layer and on the portion of the path of the array of waveguides exposed by the opening in the insulating layer, wherein a voltage across the liquid crystal layer is to cause a greater phase shift in the given waveguide than the adjacent waveguide of the array based on greater exposure of the given waveguide, relative to the adjacent waveguide, to the liquid crystal layer through the opening in the insulating layer. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification