Liquid-cladded optical phased array for a single-wavelength beam steering

作者：Binghui Li, Caiming Sun, Hongjie Wang, Zhenmin Chen, Xiaomin Nie, Shupeng Deng, Lesi Yang, Aidong Zhang · 发表于：Optics Letters · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1364/ol.439803 · 被引用次数：32 · 研究领域：Photonic and Optical Devices、Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices、Advanced Fiber Optic Sensors

We report a simple concept to implement a single-wavelength beam steering based on a liquid-cladded one-dimensional (1D) optical phased array (OPA). The beam steering was realized by modifying the waveguide mode effective index through replacing the liquid upper claddings. A prototype of a 32-channel liquid-cladded OPA was fabricated and characterized. Owing to the high refractive index range of liquids ( > 0.625 ), a maximum steering angle of > 10 ∘ was achieved with the liquid range from 1.0 to 1.63 at a wavelength of 940 nm. Moreover, the liquid-cladded OPA reveals a quasi-continuous beam steering range of > 29 ∘ by combining the liquid cladding tuning and discrete wavelength tuning of λ = 785 n m , 852 nm, and 940 nm. Further integration with optofluidic systems offers the OPA potential for low power consumption and all-fluidic beam steering operating at a single wavelength.