Hetero-laminated electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device and methods of using same

Abstract

The application provides a two-dimensional optical phased array device of an isomerism laminated electro-optic crystal, relates to the field of electro-optic regulation, and comprises a plurality of groups of laminated electro-optic crystal array elements, each group of the electro-optic crystal array elements comprises, from top to bottom, a ground electrode one, an electro-optic crystal sheet one, a driving electrode assembly, an electro-optic crystal sheet two and a ground electrode two; the polarization directions of the electro-optic crystal sheet one and the electro-optic crystal sheet two are opposite; and the driving electrode assembly comprises two kinds of different electrodes, namely a driving electrode one and a driving electrode two, to respectively modulate the horizontal and vertical transmission directions of a light beam. The application forms an optical phased array through a unique isomerism lamination design of electro-optic crystal sheets, utilizes the electro-optic effect of the electro-optic crystal to electrically control the light beam, realizes two-dimensional deflection of the light beam, and can solve the problems that current optical phased arrays cannot simultaneously realize large scanning angles, high laser bearing power, high regulation speed, small size and low cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of electro-optic control technology, and more specifically, to a heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device and its usage method. Background Technology

[0002] Optical phased arrays, also known as light-controlled arrays, are a technology that evolved from radar in recent decades. They can control the phase and direction of light waves and have the potential to be used as a foundational solution for laser technology, a fundamental technology in photonics. They enable faster and more accurate fine-tuning of light sources and offer greater complexity at a lower cost. Initially, optical phased array technology was controlled by radar signals, achieving efficient directional propagation of rays by controlling the phase of microwaves on an electronic board. With the development of laser technology, optical phased arrays were applied to laser devices. Their principle is similar to radar signal control. With technological improvements, laser-based solutions are gradually being adopted to achieve efficient state management, precise light resource allocation, wireless deployment systems, and other benefits.

[0003] Existing optical phased array solutions mainly include fiber optic phased arrays, liquid crystal optical phased arrays, silicon-based integrated optical phased arrays, and electro-optic crystal optical phased arrays. However, to date, none of these solutions can simultaneously achieve large scanning angles, high laser power handling, high control speed, and small size and low cost, which means they are still far from large-scale practical applications. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention discloses a heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device, which aims to improve the above-mentioned technical problems.

[0005] The present invention adopts the following solution: A heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device includes multiple stacked electro-optic crystal elements. Each set of electro-optic crystal elements includes, from top to bottom, a ground electrode one, an electro-optic crystal thin plate one, a driving electrode assembly, an electro-optic crystal thin plate two, and a ground electrode two. The electro-optic crystal thin plate one and the electro-optic crystal thin plate two have opposite polarization directions. The driving electrode assembly includes two electrodes with different structures, driving electrode one and driving electrode two, to modulate the horizontal and vertical transmission directions of the light beam, respectively.

[0006] As a further improvement, both driving electrode one and driving electrode two are located between electro-optic crystal thin plate one and electro-optic crystal thin plate two; two grounding electrodes are assembled on the outer surfaces of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates.

[0007] As a further improvement, the first driving electrode is arranged at equal intervals at one end of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates, and the width of the area covered by the second driving electrode is equal to the width of the area covered by the first driving electrode.

[0008] As a further improvement, the width of the area covered by the two grounding electrodes is the same as the width of the area covered by the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode.

[0009] As a further improvement, the electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array is configured such that when connected to the beam input end, its beam width is equal to the width of the ground electrode, driving electrode one, and driving electrode two.

[0010] As a further improvement, the driving electrode one and driving electrode two are configured such that when connected to the positive terminal of the voltage source, the grounding electrode therein will be connected to the negative terminal of the voltage source, that is, a voltage is applied to the electrode; and the regions of the driving electrode one and driving electrode two will produce the same refractive index distribution on the two electro-optic crystal thin plates with opposite polarization directions.

[0011] As a further improvement, the first electro-optic crystal plate is an electro-optic crystal plate with upward polarization; the second electro-optic crystal plate is an electro-optic crystal plate with downward polarization.

[0012] As a further improvement, a transparent organic material is used to bond the electro-optic crystal sheet with upward polarization and the electro-optic crystal sheet with downward polarization.

[0013] A method of using a two-dimensional optical phased array device based on the heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal described above, comprising: When the light beam enters the two-dimensional optical phased array of the electro-optic crystal, it will enter all the electro-optic crystal plates. The light beam in each electro-optic crystal plate will pass through the area covered by the first driving electrode. Each electrode of the first driving electrode can be individually applied with a different voltage, so that the light beam is modulated by the first driving electrode in the horizontal direction. The phase of the light beam in the horizontal direction changes, thus realizing the scanning of the light beam in the horizontal direction. The beam modulated by the first driving electrode passes through the area covered by the second driving electrode, causing the vertical propagation direction of the beam to deflect, thus achieving beam scanning in the vertical direction.

[0014] By adopting the above technical solution, the present invention can achieve the following technical effects: The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device of this application constructs an optical phased array through a unique heterogeneous stacked design of electro-optic crystal thin plates. Utilizing the electro-optic effect of the electro-optic crystal, the beam is electrically controlled to achieve two-dimensional beam deflection. This solves the problem that current optical phased arrays cannot simultaneously achieve large scanning angles, high laser power handling, high modulation speed, small size, and low cost. It breaks through the bottleneck of traditional optical phased arrays and obtains a new type of optical phased array technology with non-mechanical pure electronic control, high detection accuracy, large sweep angle, high sweep angle resolution, small size (cm), and high modulation speed, thus promoting the practical application of optical phased array technology. Attached Figure Description

[0015] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of the present invention and should not be regarded as a limitation of the scope. For those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained from these drawings without creative effort.

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of each group of electro-optic crystal elements in the optical phased array device of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the beam scanning effect; (a) Schematic diagram of the effect of unmodulated light spot; (b) Schematic diagram of the horizontal scanning effect of the light spot; (c) Schematic diagram of the vertical scanning effect of the light spot.

[0017] Reference numerals: 001, Electro-optic crystal array element; 002, Ground electrode one; 003, Electro-optic crystal thin plate one; 004, Driving electrode one; 005, Driving electrode two; 006, Electro-optic crystal thin plate two; 007, Ground electrode two. Detailed Implementation

[0018] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, but merely to represent selected embodiments of the invention. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0019] Example The first embodiment of this invention provides a heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device, comprising multiple sets of stacked electro-optic crystal array elements 001. Each set of electro-optic crystal array elements 001 includes, from top to bottom, a ground electrode 002, an electro-optic crystal thin plate 003, a driving electrode assembly, an electro-optic crystal thin plate 2 006, and a ground electrode 2 007. The electro-optic crystal thin plates 003 and 2 006 have opposite polarization directions to improve the duty cycle of the array elements. Specifically, the electro-optic crystal thin plate 003 is an upwardly polarized electro-optic crystal thin plate, and the electro-optic crystal thin plate 2 006 is a downwardly polarized electro-optic crystal thin plate. The upwardly polarized electro-optic crystal thin plate and the downwardly polarized electro-optic crystal thin plate are bonded together using a transparent organic material. The driving electrode assembly includes two electrodes with different structures, driving electrode 004 and driving electrode 2 005, to modulate the horizontal and vertical transmission directions of the light beam, respectively.

[0020] Furthermore, both driving electrode 1 (004) and driving electrode 2 (005) are located between electro-optic crystal thin plate 1 (003) and electro-optic crystal thin plate 2 (006); two grounding electrodes are mounted on the outer surfaces of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates. Driving electrode 1 (004) is equidistantly arranged at one end of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates, and driving electrode 2 (005) is arranged at the other end of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates. The width of the area covered by driving electrode 2 (005) is equal to the width of the area covered by driving electrode 1 (004).

[0021] Furthermore, the width of the area covered by the two grounding electrodes is the same as the width of the area covered by the driving electrode 1 004 and the driving electrode 2 005.

[0022] Furthermore, when the electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array is connected to the beam input end, its beam width is equal to the width of the ground electrode, driving electrode 1 004, and driving electrode 2 005.

[0023] Furthermore, when driving electrode 1 004 and driving electrode 2 005 are connected to the positive terminal of the voltage source, the grounding electrode therein will be connected to the negative terminal of the voltage source, that is, a voltage is applied to the electrode, and the regions of driving electrode 1 004 and driving electrode 2 005 will produce the same refractive index distribution on the two electro-optic crystal thin plates with opposite polarization directions, thereby applying the same phase delay to the light beam passing through the region.

[0024] The second embodiment of the present invention provides a method for using the heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device described above. Specifically, when a light beam enters the electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array, it will enter all the electro-optic crystal thin plates. The light beam in each electro-optic crystal thin plate will pass through the area covered by the driving electrode 004. Each electrode of the driving electrode 004 can be individually applied with a different voltage, so that the light beam is modulated by the driving electrode 004 in the horizontal direction, and the phase of the light beam in the horizontal direction changes, thereby realizing beam scanning in the horizontal direction. The light beam modulated by the driving electrode 004 will pass through the area covered by the driving electrode 2 005, so that the vertical propagation direction of the light beam is deflected, thereby realizing beam scanning in the vertical direction.

[0025] After the beam modulated by the two driving electrodes is emitted into free space, it will achieve a two-dimensional large-angle scan.

[0026] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. All technical solutions that fall within the scope of the present invention are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device, characterized in that, The device comprises multiple stacked electro-optic crystal array elements. Each array element, from top to bottom, includes a ground electrode one, an electro-optic crystal thin plate one, a driving electrode assembly, an electro-optic crystal thin plate two, and a ground electrode two. The electro-optic crystal thin plate one and the electro-optic crystal thin plate two have opposite polarization directions. The electro-optic crystal thin plate one is polarized upwards, while the electro-optic crystal thin plate two is polarized downwards. The light propagation direction is parallel to the plane of the electro-optic crystal thin plate. The driving electrode assembly includes two electrodes with different structures, driving electrode one and driving electrode two, to modulate the horizontal and vertical propagation directions of the light beam, respectively. The driving electrode one is arranged at one end of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates, and the driving electrode two is arranged at an interval from the driving electrode one at the other end of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates.

2. The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device according to claim 1, characterized in that, Both driving electrode one and driving electrode two are located between electro-optic crystal thin plate one and electro-optic crystal thin plate two; two grounding electrodes are assembled on the outer surface of the two electro-optic crystal thin plates.

3. The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first driving electrode includes multiple electrodes, which are equidistantly arranged at one end of two electro-optic crystal thin plates. The width of the area covered by the second driving electrode is equal to the width of the area covered by the first driving electrode.

4. The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The width of the area covered by the two grounding electrodes is the same as the width of the area covered by the first driving electrode and the second driving electrode.

5. The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array is configured such that when connected to the beam input end, its beam width is equal to the width of the ground electrode, driving electrode one, and driving electrode two.

6. The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The driving electrode one and driving electrode two are configured such that when connected to the positive terminal of the voltage source, the ground electrode therein will be connected to the negative terminal of the voltage source; and the regions of the driving electrode one and driving electrode two will produce the same refractive index distribution on the two electro-optic crystal thin plates with opposite polarization directions.

7. The heterogeneous stacked electro-optic crystal two-dimensional optical phased array device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The electro-optic crystal sheet with upward polarization and the electro-optic crystal sheet with downward polarization are bonded together using a transparent organic material.

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