Polysilicon Grating Switches for LiDAR

Cook, Eugene H.; Spector, Steven J.; Moebius, Michael; Baruffi, Frederick A.; Bancu, Mirela G.; Benney, Lucas; Byrnes, Steven J.; Chesin, Jordan; Geiger, Sarah; Goldman, Daniel A.; Hare, A. E.; Lane, Benjamin F.; Sawyer, William D.; Bessette, Chris R.

doi:10.1109/jmems.2020.3004069

Cited by 16 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The enabling technology of this work is a MOEMS-based photonic-integrated circuit which is used as the FPSA in a LABS system [33]. The switch structure in the FPSA is a digital MEMS grating switch.…”

Section: B Moems-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (Pic)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MOEMS PIC in this study is fabricated on a silicon (Si) photonics platform, and uses silicon nitride (Si3N4) waveguides for light routing onchip and polysilicon grating switches as the emitter structures (Fig. 1b) [33].…”

Section: B Moems-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (Pic)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The polysilicon gratings act as a simple digital switch for light emission from the MOEMS PIC. In the 'off' state, the gratings are suspended 1.4 µm above the waveguide bus by MEMS flexures [33], and little-to-no light couples to the grating (Fig. 3a).…”

Section: B Moems-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (Pic)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The emitted light is directed into the scene by a lens, like a camera but operating in reverse [28]. A wide variety of FPSAs using different architectures and switches for emitter locations have been used in demonstrated LABS systemsfor example, matrices of Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) [29] [30], ring resonator [26] [27] [31], MEMS waveguide [32], and MEMS grating [33] switches. These approaches offer simple control, scalability (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

MOEMS-based Lens-Assisted Beam Steering for Free-Space Optical Communications

Goldman

Serra

Kacker

et al. 2023

J. Lightwave Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Free-space optical communication (FSOC) systems require precise pointing, acquisition, and tracking to send and receive optical beams for effective operation. In a lens-assisted beam steering (LABS) system, light is steered by controlling the emission location in a focal plane. The emitted light is directed into the scene by a lens, like a camera but operating in reverse. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel free-space optical communications link using a micro-opto-electro-mechanical-system (MOEMS) based photonic integrated circuit (PIC) for LABS between multiple receive locations. The MOEMS PIC operates via selective electrical actuation of an array of small grating switches (30 µm x 30 µm footprint, 100 µm pitch). Data rates up to 10 Gbps and a 3 dB optical bandwidth covering the infrared C and L bands (1530 nm to 1625 nm) are measured over a 1 m free-space link distance. Eye diagrams indicate a quality communications link for data rates up to 10 Gbps and bit-error-rates < 10 -10 are measured for on-off keying (OOK) modulation. A measured beam profile is propagated into the far-field via simulation, and used to calculate link budgets for example CubeSat crosslink and downlink scenarios. Link budget calculations indicate potential > 1 Gbps CubeSat FSOC crosslinks for link lengths > 1000 km and 1 W of input optical power, using identical 90 mm transmit and receive apertures and a commercially-available fiber-coupled InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD) receive detector.

show abstract

Section: B Moems-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (Pic)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Moems-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (Pic)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Moems-based Photonic Integrated Circuit (Pic)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

MOEMS-based Lens-Assisted Beam Steering for Free-Space Optical Communications

Goldman

Serra

Kacker

et al. 2023

J. Lightwave Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These advantages have been demonstrated in large-scale optical switches for optical communication networks 30,31 . Proof-of-concept scanners with a small number of pixels (≤400) were recently reported 32,33 . The performances of the reported FPSAs are summarized in Extended Data Table 2 and Extended Data Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A large-scale microelectromechanical-systems-based silicon photonics LiDAR

Zhang

Kwon

Henriksson

et al. 2022

Nature

194

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Three-dimensional (3D) imaging sensors allow machines to perceive, map and interact with the surrounding world1. The size of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) devices is often limited by mechanical scanners. Focal plane array-based 3D sensors are promising candidates for solid-state LiDARs because they allow electronic scanning without mechanical moving parts. However, their resolutions have been limited to 512 pixels or smaller2. In this paper, we report on a 16,384-pixel LiDAR with a wide field of view (FoV, 70° × 70°), a fine addressing resolution (0.6° × 0.6°), a narrow beam divergence (0.050° × 0.049°) and a random-access beam addressing with sub-MHz operation speed. The 128 × 128-element focal plane switch array (FPSA) of grating antennas and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-actuated optical switches are monolithically integrated on a 10 × 11-mm2 silicon photonic chip, where a 128 × 96 subarray is wire bonded and tested in experiments. 3D imaging with a distance resolution of 1.7 cm is achieved with frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) ranging in monostatic configuration. The FPSA can be mass-produced in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) foundries, which will allow ubiquitous 3D sensors for use in autonomous cars, drones, robots and smartphones.

show abstract