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Updated: Feb 13, 2026
05:57
Characterization of SiN Integrated Optical Phased Arrays on a Wafer-Scale Test Station
Published on: April 1, 2020
8.6K
Sparse aperiodic arrays for optical beam forming and LIDAR.
Optics Express
|March 10, 2018
Summary
This study optimizes sparse optical phased arrays for grating lobe-free steering across the visible spectrum. We provide design guidelines for large-scale, aperiodic arrays with element spacing over 1.5 wavelengths.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optical Engineering
- Array Antenna Theory
Background:
- Optical phased arrays (OPAs) are crucial for beam steering.
- Achieving wide-angle steering with suppressed sidelobes in large arrays remains challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop design strategies for sparse OPAs with aperiodic spacing.
- To enable grating lobe-free beam steering across the full visible spectrum.
- To provide guidelines for scaling OPAs to hundreds of elements.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of OPAs with element-to-element spacing greater than one wavelength.
- Optimization of waveguide spacing for maximum side-mode suppression.
- Derivation of waveguide placement strategies for sparse arrays.
Main Results:
- Identified optimum waveguide placement for high side-mode suppression.
- Demonstrated grating lobe-free steering in full visible space.
- Preserved narrow beamwidth in sparse arrays (> 1.5 λ and > 3 λ average spacing).
Conclusions:
- Aperiodic, sparse OPA designs enable efficient, wide-angle beam steering.
- Design guidelines are provided for scalable, high-performance OPAs.
- Tiling strategies are considered for further array area scaling.
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