High-Speed Optical-Beam Scanning by an Optical Phased Array Using Electro-Optic Polymer Waveguides

Abstract

Optical phased arrays (OPAs), which manipulate an optical beam by controlling the phase of light, are optical devices characterized by high speed, small size, light weight, and high reliability that make various applications possible. In this study, an eight-channelwaveguide OPA using an electro-optic (EO) polymer for phase control was fabricated. Very high-speed optical beam scanning with a frequency of 2 MHz was demonstrated by applying a driving waveform superimposing sinusoidal and rectangular-wave voltages. Furthermore, the EO polymer OPA can be operated with a low total-operation power consumption of 0.38 mW at a scanning speed of 500 kHz.

Coupling structures between Nb2O5 and plasmonic waveguide for high-speed and wide-steering angle optical phased array

“…In recent applications of OPA using optical waveguide structures, the electro-optic (EO) effect, wherein the refractive index changes with an external electric field, is employed to control the light beam. A high-speed OPA based on organic EO polymer waveguides has reported a steering angle of 19.1° [3]. The steering angle 2θ of this OPA depends on the antenna pitch (See Fig.…”

Evaluation of Optical Characteristics in Electro‐Optic Chromophores Designed for Applications at O‐Band

“…The development of electro-optic polymers (EOPs) with a large EO coefficient r 33 has attracted considerable attention due to their applications in ultrahigh-speed and lower-power optical modulators, [1,2] optical phased arrays, [3,4] electric field sensors, [5] and THz radiation/detection devices. [6,7] For the development of EOPs with a large r 33 value, various EO chromophores with a high hyperpolarizability β have been developed.…”

Polymer waveguide phase modulators integrated with silicon nitride waveguides for optical phased array LiDAR beam scanner

“…Therefore, the phase modulator array that can control the phase of each channel of the array waveguide independently is a core component of the OPA beam scanner. The phase modulator array of OPA is implemented by forming multiple channels of phase modulators using thermo-optic (TO), electro-optic, or stress-optic effects [1][2][3][4].…”