Gallium Arsenide Optical Phased Array Photonic Integrated Circuit

Abstract

A 16-channel optical phased array is fabricated on a gallium arsenide photonic integrated circuit platform with a low-complexity process. Tested with a 1064 nm external laser, the array demonstrates 0.92{\deg} beamwidth, 15.3{\deg} grating-lobe-free steering range, and 12 dB sidelobe level. Based on a reverse biased p-i-n structure, component phase modulators are 3 mm long with DC power consumption of less than 5 ${\mu}$W and greater than 770 MHz electro-optical bandwidth. Individual 4-mm-long phase modulators based on the same structure demonstrate single-sided V${\pi}{\cdot}$L modulation efficiency ranging from 0.5 V${\cdot}$cm to 1.23 V${\cdot}$cm when tested at wavelengths from 980 nm to 1360 nm.