Heterogeneous silicon photonics sensing for autonomous cars

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Materials Science
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Heterogeneous silicon photonics offers wafer-scale integration of active and passive components, including optical sources.
• This integration is crucial for developing cost-effective photonic sensors required for autonomous vehicles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present research on integrated interferometric optical gyroscopes and LiDAR sensors using heterogeneous silicon photonics.
• To demonstrate the development of a fully integrated gyroscope front-end and a dense pitch optical phased array.

Main Methods:

• Development of a compact, fully integrated gyroscope front-end.
• Fabrication of a dense pitch optical phased array utilizing heterogeneous phase shifters.
• Characterization of phase shifter performance, including V2π, amplitude modulation, power consumption, and speed.

Main Results:

• A fully integrated gyroscope front-end was achieved with an area of only 4.5 mm².
• The first dense pitch optical phased array using heterogeneous phase shifters was demonstrated.
• Phase shifters exhibited low V2π (0.35-1.4 V), low residual amplitude modulation (0.1-0.15 dB), minimal static power consumption (<3 nW), and high speed (>1 GHz).

Conclusions:

• Heterogeneous silicon photonics is well-suited for photonic sensing in autonomous vehicles due to integration capabilities and cost reduction potential.
• The developed components, particularly the high-performance optical phased array, are ideal for next-generation LiDAR systems.