Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Methods and systems for optical beam steering
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Application No.: US15630235Application Date: 2017-06-22
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Publication No.: US10261389B2Publication Date: 2019-04-16
- Inventor: Scott Skirlo , Cheryl Marie Sorace-Agaskar , Marin Soljacic , Simon Verghese , Jeffrey S. Herd , Paul William Juodawlkis , Yi Yang , Dirk Robert Englund , Mihika Prabhu
- Applicant: Scott Skirlo , Cheryl Marie Sorace-Agaskar , Marin Soljacic , Simon Verghese , Jeffrey S. Herd , Paul William Juodawlkis , Yi Yang , Dirk Robert Englund , Mihika Prabhu
- Applicant Address: US MA Cambridge
- Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Current Assignee Address: US MA Cambridge
- Agency: Smith Baluch LP
- Main IPC: G02F1/295
- IPC: G02F1/295 ; G02F1/313 ; G02F1/31

Abstract:
An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar dielectric lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes an output coupler, such as a grating or photonic crystal, that guides the collimated beams in different directions out of the lens plane. A switch matrix controls which input port is illuminated and hence the in-plane propagation direction of the collimated beam. And a tunable light source changes the wavelength to control the angle at which the collimated beam leaves the plane of the substrate. The device is very efficient, in part because the input port (and thus in-plane propagation direction) can be changed by actuating only log2 N of the N switches in the switch matrix. It can also be much simpler, smaller, and cheaper because it needs fewer control lines than a conventional optical phased array with the same resolution.
Public/Granted literature
- US20170371227A1 Methods and Systems for Optical Beam Steering Public/Granted day:2017-12-28
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