Optical phased array antenna with wide steering range using grating array superlattices

We present a optical phased array antenna with gratings by using shallow ethced grating coupler on silicon-oninsulator for large angle optical beam steering. By decreasing the spacing of antenna to 0.9 μm, The steering range of the antenna can reach as large as 106° with a SNR of -7dB. To prevent crosstalk from grating coupler with small element spacing, we change the width of each grating to cause phase mismatch between adjacent antennas. Specific design is also made to the periods of each antenna in order to make the steering angle of antenna the same. Such grating array superlattices have great potential in LIDAR and free-space communication for its large steering range and small SNR.