Realization of a wide steering end-fire facet optical phased array using silicon rich silicon nitride

Abstract

The design, fabrication, and characterization of a 16-element optical phased array (OPA) using a high index (n = 3.1) silicon rich silicon nitride (SRN) is demonstrated. We present one-dimensional beam steering with end-fire facet antennas over a wide steering range of >115{\deg} at a fixed wavelength of 1525 nm. A spot size of 0.11{\deg} has been measured at boresight, consistent with theory. We demonstrate SRN as a viable material choice for chip-scale OPA applications due to its high thermo-optic coefficient, high optical power handling capacity due to negligible two-photon absorption (TPA), wide transparency window, low propagation loss, and CMOS compatibility.