Abstract
Optical wireless links can offer a very large bandwidth and can act as a complementary technology to radiofrequency links. Optical components nowadays are however rather bulky. Therefore, we have investigated the potential of silicon photonics to fabricated integrated components for wireless optical communication. This paper presents a two-dimensional phased array antenna consisting of grating couplers that couple light off-chip. Wavelength steering of $0.24 degrees /nm is presented reducing the need of active phase modulators. The needed steering range is $1.5 degrees . The 3dB angular coverage range of these antennas is about $0.007pi sr with a directivity of more than 38dBi and antenna losses smaller than 3dB.
Highlights
On the one hands, as the available radio spectrum is getting more and more congested, people are looking for solutions by either using a different carrier frequency (60GHz band), MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) communication or by applying UWB (UltraWide Band)
As the present wireless optical systems consist of bulky components, we have investigated the use of an integrated technology to fabricate components for wireless optical links
Whereas for an N × N array, N2 phase tuners are needed to perform full two-dimensional beam scanning, this number can be reduced to N by using wavelength scanning in one direction
Summary
As the available radio spectrum is getting more and more congested, people are looking for solutions by either using a different carrier frequency (60GHz band), MIMO (Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output) communication or by applying UWB (UltraWide Band). Optical systems do not suffer from electromagnetic interference, provide an increased security and could serve either as a stand-alone technology or in hybrid optical-RF systems. These systems are getting increased attention for indoor wireless links [1]. As the present wireless optical systems consist of bulky components, we have investigated the use of an integrated technology to fabricate components for wireless optical links. Beam scanning is important for directive links and can be done by wavelength scanning or active phase tuning. Whereas for an N × N array, N2 phase tuners are needed to perform full two-dimensional beam scanning, this number can be reduced to N by using wavelength scanning in one direction
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