All-Solid-State Beam Steering via Integrated Optical Phased Array Technology

Abstract

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), combining traditional radar technology with modern laser technology, has much potential for applications in navigation, mapping, and so on. Benefiting from the superior performance, an all-solid-state beam steering realized by integrated optical phased array (OPA) is one of the key components in the LiDAR system. In this review, we first introduce the basic principle of OPA for beam steering. Then, we briefly review the detailed advances of different solutions such as micro-electromechanical system OPA, liquid crystal OPA, and metasurface OPA, where our main focus was on the recent progress of OPA in photonic integrated chips. Finally, we summarize the different solutions and discuss the challenges and perspectives of all-solid-state beam steering for LiDAR.

Beam Steering Technology of Optical Phased Array Based on Silicon Photonic Integrated Chip

“…When the main beam deflects to the angle where a grating lobe with an amplitude equal to it appears, the range is defined as the FOV range of the periodic OPA and . The transversal divergence angle of the beam is expressed by the following formula [ 42 ]: …”

Wide Optical Beam Steering LCOS Device for Solid-State LiDAR Applications

“…Lately, all-solid-state LiDAR systems realized by optical phased array (OPA) has been an interesting approach for beam steering applications. Various optical beam steering methods via OPA technology have been developed, such as microelectromechanical system (MEMS) OPA, metasurface (meta) OPA, photonic integrated chip (PIC) OPA, and liquid crystal (LC) OPA [6]. MEMS-OPA had a great impact in reducing the cost, energy consumption, and high scanning speed of the solidstate LiDAR system, but fundamentally closer to mechanical steering and is therefore vulnerable to vibration [7].…”

Intensive and Efficient Design of a Two-dimensional 8 × 8 Silicon-Based Optical Phased Array Transceiver

“…The defects lie in the slow scanning speed, large volume, and high cost, so its application in many fields is limited. Therefore, the appearance of the optical phased array (OPA) provides a feasible solution for efficient beam scanning [7][8][9][10]. At the same time, the efficient compatibility of silicon on insulator (SOI) platforms and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (COMS) technology makes silicon photonic technology conducive to large-scale integration [11].…”