Photonic integrated circuit with multiple waveguide layers for broadband high-efficient 3D OPA

The traditional photonic integrated circuit (PIC) inherits the mature CMOS fabrication process from the electronic integrated circuit (IC) industry. However, this process also limits the PIC structure to a single-waveguide-layer configuration. In this work, we explore the possibility of the multi-waveguide-layer PIC by proposing and demonstrating a 3D optical phased array (OPA) device, with the light exiting from the edge of the device, based on multi-layer Si₃N₄/SiO₂ stacks. This device is in a multi-waveguide-layer configuration at every single position of the device. This configuration offers the possibility of using edge couplers at both the input and the emitting ends to achieve broadband high efficiency, and its uniqueness provides the potential for a more extended detection range in the lidar application. The device has been studied by numerical simulation, and proof-of-concept samples have been fabricated and tested.