Liquid crystal-optical phased arrays (LC-OPA)-based optical beam steering with microradian resolution enabled by double gratings

Qin, Siyi; Liu, Chen; Wang, Jinyao; Chen, Kexin; Xu, Jianyi; Fu, Songnian; Liu, Deming; Ran, Yanli

doi:10.1364/ao.58.004091

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The basic principle of LC-OPA is shown in Figure 5. LC-OPA has the advantage of high birefringence [34]. As shown in Figure 5a, the phase relation between array units remains constant without applying voltage.…”

Section: Lc-opamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first one is by applying an external electric field to control the material properties of the The LC-OPA has many advantages such as low drive voltage, compact size, high precision, and non-inertia. However, the angular resolution is difficult to achieve due to the limitation of the pixel pitch, and the fringe-field effect arising in the neighboring pixels [34]. Furthermore, the scanning speed is limited due to the time needed for the molecular reorientation [36].…”

Section: Meta-opamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The experimental results showed that the precision was better than 2 µrad. In 2019, to realize high angular resolution and low beam divergence in the LC-OPA, Qin et al [34] introduced two nonparallel blazed gratings with a special included angle, achieving multiple diffractions for the incident light, to compress the steered angle of the incident light. The angular resolution of beam steering (~10 µrad) was improved six times compared to that without the use of the double-grating configuration experimentally.…”

Section: Meta-opamentioning

confidence: 99%

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All-Solid-State Beam Steering via Integrated Optical Phased Array Technology

2022

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Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), combining traditional radar technology with modern laser technology, has much potential for applications in navigation, mapping, and so on. Benefiting from the superior performance, an all-solid-state beam steering realized by integrated optical phased array (OPA) is one of the key components in the LiDAR system. In this review, we first introduce the basic principle of OPA for beam steering. Then, we briefly review the detailed advances of different solutions such as micro-electromechanical system OPA, liquid crystal OPA, and metasurface OPA, where our main focus was on the recent progress of OPA in photonic integrated chips. Finally, we summarize the different solutions and discuss the challenges and perspectives of all-solid-state beam steering for LiDAR.

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Section: Lc-opamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Meta-opamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Meta-opamentioning

confidence: 99%

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All-Solid-State Beam Steering via Integrated Optical Phased Array Technology

2022

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“…It cannot accurately control the beam to reach the specified deflection angle, and its tracking accuracy cannot be guaranteed, which will greatly reduce the photoelectric tracking efficiency. Most of the liquid crystal phased arrays are controlled by means of applied voltage, and the current control methods still have the problems of limited scanning resolution and unstable pointing position 11 . Wang Shuai et al 12 of the University of Aerospace Engineering proposed a method to improve the three-dimensional imaging resolution of APD arrays based on optical phased arrays using liquid crystal space modulators, which realized the scanning of the beam array in the far field and improved the scanning resolution of liquid crystals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-mechanical photoelectric tracking technology using liquid crystal phased array

Zhang

Jiang

Liu

et al. 2023

Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies and Applications 2022; And 2nd International Forum of Young Scientists on Advanced

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A non-mechanical photoelectric tracking technology based on liquid crystal phased array was proposed. A mathematical model of a liquid crystal phased array photoelectric tracking closed-loop system was established. The laser emits incident light of a specified wavelength. Incident light enters the liquid crystal phased array through polarizers, waveplates and other optical devices. The difference between the deflected beam and the incident light is received with the camera after the liquid crystal phased array. The liquid crystal phased array adopts voltage control to achieve the deflection of the incident beam and achieve the purpose of accurate tracking. The motion state of the simulated target is analyzed and a modern control algorithm is designed. Subsequent simulations and experiments were conducted. Simulation results show that the dynamic tracking error of the liquid crystal photoelectric tracking system is better than 18μrad. Its closed-loop bandwidth exceeds 2.3HZ. On the basis of the above work, a desktop demonstration experiment platform was built. Experimental results show that the dynamic tracking error of the liquid crystal tracking control system is better than 20μrad, which has good robustness.

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“…Liquid crystal technology can enable OPA systems with relatively large field of view (FOV) at low power, but such technology is slow (response time in the millisecond range) due to the viscoelasticity of the liquid [12]. For a scan angle wider than 10 • , the efficiency (ratio of deflected light power to the incident light power) of a liquid crystal OPA is low (<25%) [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conventional surface micromachining process for the fabrication of a linear optical phased array based on piston micromirrors

Mohammad

Mrad

2021

J. Micromech. Microeng.

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Micro electromechanical system (MEMS) based optical phased array (OPA) technology generally demands narrow and tightly spaced suspended microstructures with high-aspect-ratio in the lateral dimensions. This paper presents an one dimensional OPA system which is fabricated using the standard PolyMUMPs process, leading to a low-cost, simplified and commercially accessible surface micromachining technique for the OPA technology. The proposed OPA device utilizes an array of metal-coated silicon micromirrors with high-aspect-ratio structures which act as optical phase shifters. Each micromirror along the array is individually actuated by an electrostatic parallel plate micro-actuator made of a micro-cantilever beam positioned above a fixed electrode. The field of view obtained by the device is measured as 4.76° which is comparable to those by the previous MEMS based OPA devices fabricated using custom-run and complex surface micromachining processes. The OPA device has a response time of 6.5 µs and an out of plane actuation stroke of 0.16 µm at a bias voltage of 55 V. The magnitude of the out of plane displacement by the phase shifters is equal to one-quarter of the laser wavelength (650 nm) used which leads to the desired optical phase shift of π radian.

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Liquid crystal-optical phased arrays (LC-OPA)-based optical beam steering with microradian resolution enabled by double gratings

Cited by 12 publications

References 29 publications

All-Solid-State Beam Steering via Integrated Optical Phased Array Technology

All-Solid-State Beam Steering via Integrated Optical Phased Array Technology

Non-mechanical photoelectric tracking technology using liquid crystal phased array

Conventional surface micromachining process for the fabrication of a linear optical phased array based on piston micromirrors

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