https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202125501004
Integrated circular optical phased array
1 Department of Electronics, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
2 Optiwave Systems Inc, Ottawa, ON, K2E 8A7, Canada
3 Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Center, National Research Council Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
4 Currently at Telecommunication Research Institute (TELMA), Universidad de Málaga, CEI Andalucía TECH, Louis Pasteur 35, 29010 Málaga, Spain
* Corresponding author: vincentliu3@cunet.carleton.ca
Published online: 18 November 2021
Existing OPAs are typically based on 2D rectangular arrays or 1D linear arrays. Both approaches present a limited field-of-view (FOV) due to the presence of the grating lobes when the element spacing is larger than λ/2. To address the need for an increased steering range, we propose a new design strategy of an OPA system utilizing a 2D circular phased array, with a substantially increased FOV. We present a circular OPA using a demonstrated antenna element design, with an 820-element array. A steering range ΩSR calculated as a solid angle of 0.51π sr, and an angular beamwidth of 0.22°, was achieved. The array exhibits a sidelobe suppression larger than 10 dB, and a FOV of 2π sr. Although the performance is limited by the far field pattern of the individual antenna we chose, our circular OPA achieved, to the best of our knowledge, the largest steering range reported to date compared to the state-of-the-art integrated optical phased arrays reported in literature.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
