Large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system

Abstract

The invention provides a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system, and the system comprises a modulation-demodulation module which is used for transmitting and receiving an optical signal; the optical fiber amplifier is connected with the modulation-demodulation module and is used for amplifying the optical signal; the one-dimensional phase scanning photon integrated phased array module is connected with the optical fiber amplifier and is used for performing first-dimensional scanning on the optical signals; the liquid crystal optical phased array module is connected with the one-dimensional phase scanning photon integrated phased array module and is used for carrying out second-dimensional scanning on the optical signals; and the optical signals subjected to the first-dimensional scanning and the second-dimensional scanning are compounded to form two-dimensional scanning optical signals. According to the invention, the clear aperture is expanded to a centimeter level, and the system integration is good.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of laser communication technology, and in particular to a large-caliber composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system. Background Art

[0002] The space laser communication system based on the optical phased array (OPA) technology realizes beam scanning through phase control, has fast scanning speed and supports multi-beam transmission and reception, and has gradually become the mainstream solution of non-mechanical beam control technology. At present, the implementation methods of OPA mainly include liquid crystal OPA, micro-electromechanical system-based OPA and integrated optical waveguide OPA.

[0003] Liquid crystal OPA uses liquid crystal optical phased array, electrically controlled programmable electrode array and liquid crystal phase modulation material to achieve beam deflection. It has the advantages of small size, low power consumption and easy control. It is widely used in laser radar and space optical communication and other fields.

[0004] The micro-electromechanical system-based OPA uses electrostatic force or electromagnetic force to deflect a micro-mirror, thereby deflecting the light beam incident on the mirror.

[0005] Current research on integrated optical waveguide OPA at home and abroad is mostly one-dimensional phase-scanned optical phased array, which achieves two-dimensional scanning through wavelength tuning and phase modulation.

[0006] Therefore, how to simultaneously realize the two-dimensional multi-beam transmission and reception of optical phased arrays, large-aperture and long-distance laser communication applications, and the integrated, miniaturized and universal nature of communication systems has become a technical problem that needs to be urgently solved by technical personnel in this field. Summary of the invention

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention proposes a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system, which is based on a composite integration scheme of a one-dimensional phase-scanned photonic integrated phased array chip and a liquid crystal optical phased array, making full use of the advantages of both to achieve better system performance and a longer communication distance, and promote the further development and application of optical phased array technology.

[0008] The present invention provides a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system, comprising:

[0009] A modem module, used for transmitting and receiving optical signals;

[0010] An optical fiber amplifier, connected to the modulation and demodulation module, for amplifying the optical signal;

[0011] A one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module, connected to the optical fiber amplifier, for performing a first-dimensional scan of the optical signal;

[0012] A liquid crystal optical phased array module, connected to the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module, for performing a second-dimensional scan of the optical signal;

[0013] The optical signals scanned in the first dimension and scanned in the second dimension are combined to form an optical signal scanned in two dimensions.

[0014] Furthermore, the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module comprises:

[0015] A power division network for distributing optical signals into multiple sub-channels;

[0016] A phase shift array for phase modulating an optical signal in each subchannel;

[0017] Grating antenna, which is used to transmit or receive signals.

[0018] Furthermore, the liquid crystal optical phased array module comprises: a liquid crystal phase shifting medium, an orientation layer, electrodes and a transparent substrate;

[0019] An alignment layer is disposed on two opposite surfaces of the liquid crystal phase shifting medium;

[0020] Electrodes are arranged on each alignment layer, and each electrode is covered by a transparent substrate. The electrodes are used to receive voltages to control the alignment of the liquid crystal phase shifting medium.

[0021] Furthermore, the electrodes on one surface of the liquid crystal phase shifting medium are divided into an array shape, and each electrode on the array is configured to receive independent voltage control.

[0022] Furthermore, the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module and the liquid crystal optical phased array module are connected via an optical wedge, and the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module is connected to the PCB board via an adapter board.

[0023] Furthermore, the PCB board includes a DAC chip for providing voltage to drive the one-dimensional phase-scanned photonic integrated phased array module and the liquid crystal optical phased array module.

[0024] Furthermore, the multi-beam generation method of the one-dimensional phase-scanned photonic integrated phased array module is an array multiplexing method or a sub-aperture method.

[0025] Furthermore, the multi-beam generation method of the liquid crystal optical phased array module is a sub-aperture method or a holographic method.

[0026] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0027] By making full use of the characteristics of one-dimensional all-solid-state scanning devices, the light aperture is expanded to the centimeter level and the loss is reduced by more than 10dB, meeting the application requirements of long-distance space laser communications.

[0028] The solution of composite integration of one-dimensional phase-scanned photonic integrated phased array module and liquid crystal optical phased array module is adopted, the excellent properties of different materials are fully utilized, and the chip-level multi-layer stacking structure is designed in combination with SiP hybrid integrated packaging technology to achieve good system integration, and facilitate synchronous connection with fiber-optic devices, avoiding the optical path refraction of spatial light. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 The schematic diagram is a principle diagram of a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] Figure 2 The diagram is a structural diagram of a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The following is a further detailed description of a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system proposed by the present invention in combination with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. According to the following description, the advantages and features of the present invention will be clearer. It should be noted that the drawings are in a very simplified form and use non-precise proportions, which are only used to conveniently and clearly assist in explaining the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention. In order to make the purposes, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, please refer to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the structure, proportion, size, etc. illustrated in the drawings of this specification are only used to match the contents disclosed in the specification for people familiar with this technology to understand and read, and are not used to limit the limiting conditions for the implementation of the present invention, so it has no technical substantive significance. Any modification of the structure, change in the proportional relationship or adjustment of the size, without affecting the effects that the present invention can produce and the purposes that can be achieved, should still fall within the scope of the technical content disclosed by the present invention.

[0032] like Figure 1 The figure is a schematic diagram of the principle of a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The communication system comprises: a modulation and demodulation module 1, an optical fiber amplifier 2, a one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and a liquid crystal optical phased array module 4. The modulation and demodulation module 1 is used to transmit and receive optical signals; the optical fiber amplifier 2 is connected to the modulation and demodulation module 1 for amplifying optical signals; the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 is connected to the optical fiber amplifier 2 for performing a first-dimensional scan of the optical signal; the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 is connected to the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 for performing a second-dimensional scan of the optical signal, and the optical signal after the first-dimensional scan and the second-dimensional scan is combined into a two-dimensional scan optical signal.

[0033] The aperture of the single one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 can reach the centimeter level, and the aperture of the composite two-dimensional phased array antenna can reach the centimeter level, which is 2 orders of magnitude larger than the aperture of the traditional two-dimensional photon integrated phased array chip, and 1 order of magnitude larger than the aperture of the traditional two-dimensional liquid crystal optical phased array chip. The communication system provided by the present invention mainly includes the emission and reception of modulated signal light, and the emission laser beam passes through the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 in turn, and is transmitted to the free space; according to the reversibility of the optical path, the receiving laser beam passes through the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 and the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 in turn, is coupled to the waveguide fiber, and is pre-amplified by the optical fiber amplifier 2, and finally the modulated signal is demodulated.

[0034] The one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 can form a multi-layer stacked structure through integrated packaging, and cascade emission with the optical fiber type device. Figure 2 As shown, the multi-layer stacked structure formed by the package includes a PCB board 7 (printed circuit board), an adapter board 6, a one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3, an optical wedge 5 and a liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 connected in sequence. Among them, the main function of the adapter board 6 is to realize the electrode interconnection between the high-density driving electrodes of the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 and the PCB board 7, which can solve the problem of the mismatch between the pad size and the pad size of the PCB board 7. The PCB board 7 includes a DAC chip (digital analog converter) for providing the voltage required to drive the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 to work.

[0035] The present invention utilizes its high integration and fast scanning capability to perform preliminary light beam control. On the integrated optical waveguide OPA, an optical wedge 5 is used to fold the light beam to be incident on the liquid crystal optical phased array layer, further improving the precise control capability and flexibility of the light beam.

[0036] Furthermore, the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 comprises: a power division network 31, a phase shift array 32 and a grating antenna 33. The power division network 31 is used to distribute the optical signal to multiple sub-channels, the phase shift array 32 is used to phase modulate the optical signal in each sub-channel, and the grating antenna 33 is used to transmit or receive the optical signal. Figure 2 As shown, the electrode 321 of the phase shift array 32 is connected to the DAC chip on the PCB board 7 .

[0037] Furthermore, the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 comprises: a liquid crystal phase shifting medium 41, an orientation layer 42, an electrode 43 and a transparent substrate 44. Figure 2In the structure shown, the two opposite surfaces of the liquid crystal phase shift medium 41 are provided with an alignment layer 42; each alignment layer 42 is provided with an electrode 43, each electrode 43 is covered by a transparent substrate 44, and the electrode 43 is used to receive a voltage to control the orientation of the liquid crystal phase shift medium 41. The electrode 43 is an ITO layer covered on the transparent substrate 44, wherein the ITO layer on one surface is used as a common electrode and is not subjected to any etching treatment, and the other side is a strip electrode prepared by a photolithography etching process, which is an independently powered phase control unit, and the etched electrodes are divided into an array shape, and each electrode on the array is configured to receive independent voltage control.

[0038] In this example, polyimide can be used as an alignment layer, and a regular alignment film can be formed through processes such as friction alignment or photo alignment, thereby guiding the liquid crystal molecules to be arranged in an orderly manner in a predetermined direction, thereby realizing the control of the liquid crystal phased array.

[0039] The operation process of the communication system is as follows: first, the modulated signal light passes through the optical fiber amplifier 2 for power boosting, then passes through the input optical interface of the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3, enters the power division network 31, the phase shift array 32 and the grating antenna 33 in sequence, and finally transmits through the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 to perform coherent superposition in the far field. The phase shift array 32 controls the first-dimensional scanning of the emitted laser beam, while the liquid crystal phase shift medium 41 controls the second-dimensional scanning of the emitted laser beam, and finally forms a two-dimensional scanning of the emitted laser beam in the spatial position.

[0040] The multi-beam generation method of the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 4 is an array multiplexing method or a sub-aperture method, corresponding to the function of generating multiple beams of the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3, and the generated multiple beams can be simultaneously directed and controlled, thereby realizing the function of multi-node communication. The array multiplexing method is to realize the independent generation of multiple beams by using multiple phase shift arrays and the principle of beam deflection. The feeding network of this method is relatively complex and once the number of beams is determined, it cannot be changed at any time; the sub-aperture method is a sub-aperture division generation method based on a single chip, which will reduce the single beam aperture, but increase the flexibility of the number, shape and interval control of the beam. Each beam of the phase shift array 32 can be controlled by its own phase shifter, thereby realizing different directional controls respectively.

[0041] The multi-beam generation method of the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 is a sub-aperture method or a holographic method; the sub-aperture method is to divide the monolithic liquid crystal optical phased array into a number of independently controllable sub-aperture areas, and adjust the phase of each sub-aperture to achieve multi-beam; the holographic method is to obtain a near-field phase hologram by inverse Fourier transforming the target far-field situation, and then load it onto the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 to achieve multi-beam. Corresponding to the function of the liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 to generate multi-beams, the corresponding near-field phase hologram is loaded into the liquid crystal phase shift medium 41 via the ITO electrode 43, thereby achieving the directional control of the far-field multi-beam.

[0042] The beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0043] The present invention constructs a large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system, which fully utilizes the characteristics of one-dimensional all-solid-state scanning devices, expands the light aperture to the centimeter level, reduces the loss by more than 10dB, and meets the application requirements of long-distance space laser communication.

[0044] The scheme of composite integration of one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module 3 and liquid crystal optical phased array module 4 is adopted, the excellent characteristics of different materials are fully utilized, and the chip-level multi-layer stacking structure is designed in combination with SiP (System in Package) hybrid integrated packaging technology to achieve good system integration, facilitate synchronous connection with optical fiber devices, and avoid the optical path refraction of spatial light.

[0045] The system can realize two-dimensional multi-beam transmission and reception of signal beams, large-aperture and long-distance laser communication applications, and efficiently achieve large-angle "one-to-many" communication. Compared with traditional laser communication systems, it has the characteristics of fast link establishment, multi-link parallel communication, high integration and lightweight, and is suitable for large-scale promotion and application.

[0046] Although the content of the present invention has been described in detail through the above preferred embodiments, it should be appreciated that the above description should not be considered as a limitation of the present invention. After reading the above content, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and substitutions of the present invention will occur. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be limited by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system, characterized in that: include: A modem module, used for transmitting and receiving optical signals; An optical fiber amplifier, connected to the modulation and demodulation module, for amplifying the optical signal; A one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module, connected to the optical fiber amplifier, for performing a first-dimensional scan of the optical signal; A liquid crystal optical phased array module, connected to the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module, for performing a second-dimensional scan of the optical signal; The optical signals scanned in the first dimension and scanned in the second dimension are combined to form an optical signal scanned in two dimensions.

2. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module comprises: A power division network for distributing optical signals into multiple sub-channels; A phase shift array for phase modulating an optical signal in each subchannel; Grating antenna, which is used to transmit or receive signals.

3. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The liquid crystal optical phased array module comprises: a liquid crystal phase shift medium, an orientation layer, electrodes and a transparent substrate; An alignment layer is disposed on two opposite surfaces of the liquid crystal phase shifting medium; Electrodes are arranged on each alignment layer, and each electrode is covered by a transparent substrate. The electrodes are used to receive voltages to control the alignment of the liquid crystal phase shifting medium.

4. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The electrodes on one surface of the liquid crystal phase shifting medium are divided into an array shape, and each electrode on the array is configured to receive independent voltage control.

5. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module and the liquid crystal optical phased array module are connected via an optical wedge, and the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module is connected to the PCB board via an adapter board.

6. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The PCB board includes a DAC chip, which is used to provide a voltage for driving a one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module and a liquid crystal optical phased array module.

7. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The multi-beam generation method of the one-dimensional phase-scanned photon integrated phased array module is an array multiplexing method or a sub-aperture method.

8. The large-aperture composite multi-node optical phased array laser communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The multi-beam generation method of the liquid crystal optical phased array module is a sub-aperture method or a holographic method.

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