PLANAR BEAM FORMING AND STEERING OPTICAL PHASED ARRAY CHIP AND METHOD OF USING SAME

• US 20150378241A1
• Filed: 06/30/2014
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quanergy Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Quanergy Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: ELDADA, LOUAY
• Granted Patent: US 9,753,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4813 Housing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4814 of transmitters alone
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4817 relating to scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/292 by controlled diffraction or phased-array beam steering controlled diffraction for optical switching G02F1/31

Abstract

A one-dimensional planar beam forming and steering optical phased array chip is a simple building block of a two-dimensional beam forming and steering solid-state lidar, enabling manufacturing of said lidars at high yield and low cost through the use of a plurality of said chips. Innovative photonic integrated circuit chip architectures that follow design for manufacturing rules enable said building blocks.

Claims

1. An optical-phased-array-based one-dimensional beam forming and steering photonic integrated circuit apparatus comprising:

at least one optical power splitter

at least one optical phase shifter

at least one out-of-plane optical coupler laid out in a pixel array configuration

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said formable and steerable beam has a means of spot size reduction in the direction normal to the steering direction, including but not limited to:

at least one on-chip grating

at least one off-chip lens

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said at least one off-chip lens include but are not limited to:

Refractive lens

Graded-index lens

Diffractive optical element

Holographic optical element

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said one-dimensional beam forming and steering photonic integrated circuit includes a plurality of optical phased arrays that result in an increased steering range

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one optical power splitter is achieved with any subset of power splitting optical devices, including but not limited to:

Y-branches

Directional couplers

Multimode interference couplers

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said optical power splitting is achieved with Y-branches followed by multimode interference couplers.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one phase shifter are controlled with a subset of phase shifting optical devices, including but not limited to:

Gain elements

All-pass filters

Bragg gratings

Dispersive materials

Wavelength tuning

Phase tuning

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the actuation mechanism of said phase tuning utilizes a subset of actuation mechanisms, including but not limited to:

Thermo-optic actuation

Electro-optic actuation

Electroabsorption actuation

Free carrier absorption actuation

Magneto-optic actuation

Liquid crystal actuation

All-optical actuation

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each pixel has associated with it an independent phase shifter

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a plurality of said pixels are banded by having combined phase shifters

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein banded control of pixels is achieved with a subset of control elements, including but not limited to one or a plurality of the following:

linear electrodes

nonlinear electrodes

phase offset electrodes

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein exists a plurality of at least one type of electrodes from the set of linear, nonlinear and phase offset electrodes, and wherein electrodes present in plural quantities are disposed in a manner that is at least one of the following:

Serial

Parallel

Additive

Subtractive

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one out-of-plane optical coupler include but are not limited to:

Gratings

Holographic optical elements

Mirrors

Total internal reflection interfaces

Lenses

14. The apparatus of claim 1 combined with a lensing apparatus to extend the steering range

15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said photonic integrated circuit is compatible with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor silicon fabrication process

16. A method for optical-phased-array-based one-dimensional beam forming and steering utilizing a photonic integrated circuit apparatus comprising:

at least one optical power splitter

at least one optical phase shifter

at least one out-of-plane optical coupler laid out in a pixel array configuration

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said formable and steerable beam has a means of spot size reduction in the direction normal to the steering direction, including but not limited to:

at least one on-chip grating

at least one off-chip lens

18. The method of claim 16 wherein said one-dimensional beam forming and steering is obtained with a plurality of optical phased arrays.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein each pixel has associated with it an independent phase shifter

20. The method of claim 16 wherein a plurality of said pixels are banded by having combined phase shifters

21. The method of claim 16 wherein a plurality of phase shifting electrodes are disposed in a manner that is at least one of the following:

Serial

Parallel

Additive

Subtractive

22. The method of claim 16 wherein said beam forming and steering apparatus is combined with a lensing apparatus to extend the steering range