Abstract

Optical Phased Array has become a popular solution for light detection and rang- ing (lidar) due to its compact size, steering ability without physical moving parts, and integration with conventional CMOS manufacturing processes. With the rising demand in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and surveying in agriculture and oceanography industries, there is a need for a durable, high performing, and integrable lidar module. For that, a suitable integrated OPA is required to carry sufficient power and have large steering angle at a particular wavelength range. This thesis is specifically focused on blue wavelengths for use in applications such as aug- mented/virtual reality, displays, oceanography, atmospheric sensing, and quantum information systems based on atoms/ions. The steering angle of a OPA depends heavily on the distribution of emitters. Ide- ally, the OPA can steer 180 degrees when the spacing of the array elements are exactly a half wavelength apart. However, at this spacing, fabrication and crosstalk between waveguides become a major issue. Consequently, the emitters must be spaced farther apart, reducing the steering angle due to the creation of side-lobes. To address this challenge, in this work, we present and demonstrate OPAs that utilize non-periodic element spacings. Specifically, we investigated emitters that are distributed using a Golomb ruler or with random distributions. We were able to achieve a large steering angle at a blue wavelength (450nm) without any emitters at a half-wavelength spac- ing. We also demonstrate that by varying the widths of the waveguides, crosstalk can be significantly reduced. These methods could be applied to other wavelengths to increase the OPA performance and robustness.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Phased array antennas--Design and construction; Optical radar; Wave guides

Publication Date

5-8-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Electrical Engineering (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering (KGCOE)

Advisor

Stefan F. Preble

Advisor/Committee Member

Gregory Howland

Advisor/Committee Member

Jing Zhang

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

EEEE-MS

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