Abstract
Lens-assisted beam steering (LABS) has emerged as a promising solution for compact chip-based optical beam steering for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) applications. In a LABS system, light is steered within an integrated optical chip and emitted at a desired location. This emitted light is focused out into the scene with a lens, analogous to a camera operating in reverse. LABS systems offer many advantages compared to competing technologies such as solid-state reliability, simple control, compactness, and fast random access scanning. Different methods for LABS systems are described and compared. Most LABS systems demonstrated thus far have small arrays, and therefore, only offer a relatively small number of possible beam locations. It is important to understand how these systems will scale to the much larger arrays needed for a practical LiDAR system.
Highlights
Lens-assisted beam steering (LABS), referred to as image-based beam steering, has emerged as a promising solution for compact chip-based optical beam steering
In LABS, the detector array is swapped for an array of emission locations, and light emitted from a location in the focal plane is directed toward a spot into space
When a LABS system is used as a receiver, the process of coupling the light into a grating from a lens is different from a typical detector, which incoherently collects all light incidents on the detector
Summary
Lens-assisted beam steering (LABS), referred to as image-based beam steering, has emerged as a promising solution for compact chip-based optical beam steering. Such systems can meet the needs for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and free-space optical communication applications without large mechanical systems. By offering solid-state reliability, simple control, compactness, fast random access scanning, and being scalable to large aperture size, such systems offer many advantages compared to competing technologies. The light rays entering the lens from various locations in space are focused onto corresponding locations on a detector array (or film) at the focal plane. The advantages of a LABS system are that they can be all solid-state [or switched with very fast microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices] and can be controlled for robust and fast random-access scanning
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