• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2023

We propose a highly directional waveguide grating antenna for an optical phased array, achieving high directionality of more than 97% by interleaving the trenches with different etching depths in the silicon nitride layer, and adopting a multilayered structure. Meanwhile, the multilayered structure reduces the perturbation strength, which enables a centimeter-scale radiation length. The beam-steering range is 13.2°, with a wavelength bandwidth of 100 nm. The 1-dB bandwidth of the grating is 305 nm. The multilayered grating structure has a large tolerance to the fabrication variation and is compatible with CMOS fabrication techniques.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.235-240
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• 2023

The optical signal injected into an end-fire optical phased array propagates along the waveguides inside the device and is emitted from the edge of the antenna. In general, reflection and scattering occur at the boundary, thereby reducing the emission efficiency of the optical signal. In this article, we propose a silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) tapered waveguide antenna structure whose width is tapered toward the emitting edge, achieving high emission efficiency operating at the 1,550 nm wavelength. The Si₃N₄ tapered waveguide antenna was numerically designed using the 3D finite-difference time-domain method. The optical signal emission efficiency increased from 78% to 96.3%, while reflectance decreased from 22% to 3.7% compared with the untapered waveguide antenna counterpart. This result will not only boost the optical signal intensity but also mitigate optical noise resulting from back reflection along the waveguide in the end-fire optical phased array device.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2022

We have investigated the optimal design of an aperiodic optical phased array (OPA) for use in light detection and ranging applications. Three optimization algorithms - particle-swarm optimization (PSO), a genetic algorithm (GA), and a pattern-search algorithm (PSA) - were employed to obtain the optimal arrangement of optical antennas comprising an OPA. The optimization was performed to obtain the minimal side-lobe level (SLL) of an aperiodic OPA at each steering angle, using the three optimization algorithms. It was found that PSO and GA exhibited similar results for the SLL of the optimized OPA, while the SLL obtained by PSA showed somewhat different features from those obtained by PSO and GA. For an OPA optimized at a steering angle <45°, the SLL value averaged over all steering angles increased as the angle of optimization decreased. However, when the angle of optimization was larger than 45°, low average SLL values of <13 dB were obtained for all three optimization algorithms. This implies that an OPA with high signal quality can be obtained when the arrangement of the optical antennas is optimized at a large steering angle.