An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar Luneburg lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes a curved (e.g., semi-circular or arced) grating coupler that diffracts the collimated beams out of the lens plane. The beams can be steered in the plane by controlling the direction along which the lens is illuminated and out of the plane by varying the beam wavelength. Unlike other beam steering devices, this device can operate over an extremely wide field of view—up to 180°—without any aberrations off boresight. In other words, the beam quality is uniform in all directions, unlike with aplanatic lenses, thanks to the circular symmetry of the planar Luneburg lens, which may be composed of subwavelength features. The lens is also robust to misalignment and fabrication imperfections and can be made using standard CMOS processes.

An optoelectronic emitter with a phased array antenna on a photonic chip includes a power splitter, an array of phase shifters and elementary emitters, and an integrated control device. The integrated control device includes an interferometric focusing lens, the entrance and exit faces of which are curved and define a free propagation region with a homogeneous refractive index. Input waveguides are connected to the entrance face orthogonal thereto and have an effective index for the guided modes adapted such that the optical paths of the input waveguides are identical to each other.

A method includes illuminating a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) of a transmit aperture of a laser communication terminal and a PIC of a receive aperture of the laser communication terminal with multi-wavelength light, where each PIC includes multiple antenna elements forming an optical phased array (OPA). The method also includes determining light intensities of different wavelengths of the multi-wavelength light after the multi-wavelength light has passed through each PIC. The method further includes estimating phases of light associated with the antenna elements based on variations in the light intensities. In addition, the method includes adjusting one or more phase shifters of at least one of the PICs based on the estimated phases of light.

An optical beam steering device and a method for beam steering are described. The optical beam steering device including: a laser source coupled to an optical phased array (OPA) The OPA includes: a beam splitter network optically coupled to the laser source and configured to split a laser beam generated by the laser source into N outputs to generate an output optical beam; a first network of first phase shifters configured to steer the output optical beam in a first direction away from a longitude direction; and a second network of second phase shifters configured to steer the output optical beam in a second direction away from the longitude direction, the second direction being opposite to the first direction.

Embodiments relate to a photonic component having a metasurface. The metasurface includes a substrate with a thin-layer of meta-atoms disposed thereon. The photonic component includes a waveguide having a top surface, wherein the metasurface is disposed on at least a portion of the top surface such that the meta-atoms form an array on the top surface. The photonic component includes a sandwich nano-bar antenna formed in or on the metasurface.

An optical device includes: a light source that emits laser light; an optical waveguide element positioned on the optical path of the laser light; a first member positioned on the optical path, and has a bottom surface that faces the optical waveguide element, and a side surface that is rotationally symmetric about the optical path; and a control circuit. The optical waveguide element includes: a first grating that includes a plurality of portions arranged in the radial direction and having mutually different refractive indices, and that causes a portion of the laser light that is incident to be propagated in the radial direction within the optical waveguide element; and a second grating that includes a plurality of portions arranged outside the first grating, arranged in the radial direction, and having mutually different refractive indices, and that causes light to be emitted from the optical waveguide element.

A metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) structure to achieve a LIDAR beam steering, comprising: a n-number of waveguides, wherein the n-number of waveguides are connected to a laser transmitter and a receiver; a n-number phase shifters; wherein the MOS structure comprises a doping concentration of an N-drift region that is varied and a different drain-source current (IDS) to gate-source voltage (VGS) or drain-source voltage (VDS) characteristics are obtained, and wherein the IDS exists when the VGS is positive, and a magnitude of the IDS depends on a magnitude of the VGS and the VDS apart from the doping concentration of N− drift region, wherein the n-number of waveguides are connected to a laser transmitter and a receiver device, wherein the VGS is used as a control signal, wherein the VDS is set to a power supply voltage (VDD) based on at least one doping profile of the N-drift region of the MOS structure, wherein a plurality of different drain-to-source currents (IDS) are provided through the n-number of phase shifters, and wherein with a set of specified drain currents (IDS), a phase is shifted differently by the n-number of phase shifters and the beam is steered in a specified direction, and wherein only one control signal is used to achieve beam steering.

Systems and methods for steering an optical beam in two dimensions are disclosed. The system includes a substrate comprising an acousto-optic antenna array and an acoustic transducer. Each antenna of the antenna array includes a high-confinement surface waveguide carrying a light signal. The acoustic transducer imparts acoustic energy into each surface waveguide as a mechanical wave. Interaction of the light signal and mechanical wave in each surface waveguide induces light to scatter into free space. The light scattered out of the plurality of waveguides collectively defines the output beam. The longitudinal angle of output beam, relative to the substrate, is determined by the relative frequencies of the mechanical waves and the light signals. The transverse angle of the output beam is controlled by controlling the relative phases of the mechanical waves and/or light signals across the surface-waveguide array.

A reconfigurable integrated optical microswitch device (1) comprises a base layer (100), an adhesive layer (102) made of non-conducting material, a first layer of driving electrodes (104) arranged above the non-conducting adhesive layer (102), a layer of electro-optical material (106) arranged on the first layer of driving electrodes (104), a plurality of waveguides (50) afforded in the layer of electro-optical material (106), and a second layer of driving electrodes (110), arranged above the layer of electro-optical material (106) and connected to the plurality of waveguides (50). The device further comprises a layer of dielectric insulating material (108) arranged between the layer of electro-optical material (106) and the second layer of driving electrodes (110).

Provided is an optical phased array including a light injector, a first splitter connected to the light injector, a first phase shifter connected to the first splitter, a plurality of waveguides connected to the first splitter, portions of the plurality of waveguides being connected to the first splitter via the first phase shifter, an antenna array connected to the plurality of waveguides, a single mode filter provided in each of the plurality of waveguides, and a first photodetector connected to the first splitter and configured to detect a portion of light radiated onto the antenna array.