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Circular Optical Phased Arrays with Radial Nano-Antennas
Qiankun Liu1, Daniel Benedikovic1,2,3, Tom Smy1
1Department of Electronics, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada.
Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 10, 2022
Summary
Circular optical phased arrays (OPAs) with radially arranged nano-antennas effectively suppress grating lobes. This design enables wide-angle, aliasing-free beam steering for advanced optical systems like LIDAR.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optical Engineering
- Nanotechnology
- Array Antenna Theory
Background:
- On-chip optical phased arrays (OPAs) are crucial for applications like optical interconnects, metrology, and light detection and ranging (LIDAR).
- Traditional 1D linear and 2D rectangular OPAs suffer from grating sidelobes, limiting aliasing-free beam steering, especially with element spacing greater than half a wavelength.
- Efficient sidelobe suppression and wide-angle steering are critical performance demands for OPAs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To numerically analyze the performance of 2D circular OPAs with radially arranged nano-antennas.
- To investigate the potential of circular array geometry for improved beam steering and reduced sidelobes.
- To propose a circular OPA design utilizing a central grating coupler for efficient feeding.
Main Methods:
- Numerical analysis of 2D circular optical phased arrays (OPAs) featuring radially positioned nano-antennas.
- Design and simulation of a central circular grating coupler for efficient optical power delivery to the array elements.
- Evaluation of beam steering range, beam width, and sidelobe suppression characteristics.
Main Results:
- The circular array geometry effectively suppresses grating lobes, enabling wider beam steering angles.
- Increased element spacing (up to 10 μm) is feasible without aliasing, leading to narrower beamwidths.
- A 110-element OPA achieved a 5° elevation FOV and 1.14° beamwidth; an 870-element array achieved a 20° elevation FOV and 0.35° beamwidth, with a 10 dB main-to-sidelobe contrast ratio.
- An aliasing-free azimuthal field of view (FOV) of 360° was demonstrated.
Conclusions:
- 2D circular OPAs offer significant advantages over traditional linear and rectangular configurations, including enhanced beam steering and sidelobe suppression.
- The proposed design with radially arranged nano-antennas and a central grating coupler provides a pathway to large 2D beam steering and high resolution.
- Further improvements in FOV and beamwidth are expected with increased element count, paving the way for next-generation communication and LIDAR systems.
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