Research of Non-mechanical Beam Scanning Technology

Abstract

Laser beam scanning technology has been widely used in various fields such as LIDAR, photoelectric detection and space optical communication, etc. Mechanical scanning has problems such as inflexibility and low scanning rate. This paper introduces the basic principles of acoustic-optical scanning, electro-optical scanning, optical phased array and MEMS scanning, and analyses the advantages and disadvantages of several scanning methods and the main application scenarios, and finds that the current optical scanning technology is developing towards large scanning angle, high accuracy, fast response and miniaturization, among which the liquid crystal optical phased array and MEMS scanning technology are relatively mature. The scanning angle of the LCD optical phased array can reach ±10°, and the scanning angle of the MEMS can reach 6.6°*4.4°, which has a broad development prospect.