Long-Range LiDAR and Free-Space Data Communication With High-Performance Optical Phased Arrays

TLDR

The study presents high-performance integrated optical phased arrays enabling first‑of‑their‑kind LiDAR and free‑space data communication. The authors develop integrated optical phased arrays with low‑power phase shifters and high‑directionality waveguide grating antennas, demonstrating 1‑D 512‑element arrays, 2‑D beam steering, coherent 2‑D and 3‑D LiDAR, and lens‑free chip‑to‑chip free‑space links up to 50 m. The demonstrators achieve record low‑power operation (<1 mW total), large steering ranges, high‑speed 2‑D beam steering (<30 µs), coherent LiDAR up to ~200 m, and 1 Gb/s steerable free‑space links, representing the most advanced silicon photonics solid‑state beam steering to date.

Abstract

We present high-performance integrated optical phased arrays along with first-of-their-kind light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and free-space data communication demonstrators. First, record-performance optical phased array components are shown with low-power phase shifters and high-directionality waveguide grating antennas. Then, one-dimensional (1-D) 512-element optical phased arrays are demonstrated with record low-power operation (<;1 mW total), large steering ranges, and high-speed two-dimensional (2-D) beam steering (<;30 μs phase shifter time constant). Next, by utilizing optical phased arrays, we show coherent 2-D solid-state LiDAR on diffusive targets with simultaneous velocity extraction at a range of nearly 200 m. In addition, the first demonstration of 3-D coherent LiDAR with optical phased arrays is presented with raster-scanning arrays. Finally, lens-free chip-to-chip free-space optical communication links up to 50 m are shown, including a demonstration of a steerable transmitter to multiple optical phased array receivers at a 1 Gb/s data rate. This paper shows the most advanced silicon photonics solid-state beam steering to date with relevant demonstrators in practical applications.