Silica Optical Waveguide Phased Array for Lidar
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Optical phased array devices for LIDAR sensors face challenges with high insertion loss and difficulty in matching phases, requiring active control elements like optical phase modulators, and silica optical waveguide process technology is costly and technically demanding with large chip sizes and integration difficulties.
Innovation Solution
An optical phased array device using silica optical waveguides with a channel waveguide structure that includes a slab waveguide and channel waveguides with length differences to achieve low insertion loss and improved diffraction characteristics, eliminating the need for active control elements and leveraging silicon photonics technology.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If silicon-based optical phased array structure is used, then manufacturing cost is reduced and integration is simplified, but insertion loss increases and phase matching becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from silicon to silica for the optical waveguides. Silica has lower optical loss and better phase matching characteristics, which directly addresses the insertion loss problem while maintaining compatibility with existing semiconductor manufacturing processes, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and energy loss.
2Manufacturing precision
If active control elements like optical phase modulators are added, then phase matching precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the active control elements (optical phase modulators) from the device structure. By designing the waveguide geometry and material properties to inherently achieve precise phase matching, the system eliminates the need for separate active control components, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining phase matching precision.
3Loss of energy
If silica optical waveguide process technology is used, then insertion loss is reduced, but manufacturing cost increases and technical difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the silica waveguide structure multi-functional by integrating it directly into the semiconductor fabrication process. The same manufacturing steps used for standard semiconductor devices are applied to create the silica waveguides, allowing the system to achieve low insertion loss while avoiding the need for separate, expensive silica processing equipment, thus reducing overall manufacturing cost and technical difficulty.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution reduces insertion loss, improves diffraction characteristics, and enhances the precision of LIDAR sensors by steering laser beams effectively without active control elements, while also reducing manufacturing costs and complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a channel waveguide configured to distribute and guide the optical signal, branched by the slab waveguide, to M channels and to radiate the optical signal onto a free space
Implementation Method 2
The optical phased array antenna may steer a beam by adjusting a phase of a laser pulse passing through each channel of the antenna using a thermo-optic phase modulator or an electro-optic phase modulator
Data Source
AI summary
An optical phased array device for a LIDAR sensor includes: a light source configured to irradiate a laser beam having a predetermined wavelength band; an input waveguide through which the laser beam irradiated from the light source passes; a slab waveguide disposed at an output end of the input waveguide to branch an optical signal input from the input waveguide; and a channel waveguide configured to distribute and guide the optical signal, branched by the slab waveguide, to M channels and to radiate the optical signal onto a free space. The channel waveguide may include a silia optical waveguide disposed for each of the M channels, and a length of each of the optical waveguides has a length difference ΔL from an adjacent waveguide.