Optical phased-array beam steering controlled by wavelength.

A scheme for optical phased-array beam steering controlled by wavelength is proposed. In this scheme, the optical scanning device consists of arrayed optical waveguides with specific length differences, by which the desired phase slope that results in optical beam steering is formed at the ends of the waveguides and can be changed by varying the optical wavelength. By introducing the concept of irregularly spaced arrays, sidelobes can be dramatically suppressed regardless of large center-to-center interelement spacing. The absolute phase difference between adjacent elements plays a vital role in optical beam steering, and the relation between the nonuniform length difference and the corresponding center-to-center spacing among elements is found.