Spatially-chirped optical phased array design and its 10-m LiDAR operation

Phased array radar systems have a wide variety of applications in engineering and physics research. Phased array design usually requires numerical modeling with expensive commercial computational packages. Using the open-source MIT Electrogmagnetic Equation Propagation (MEEP) package, a set of phased array designs is presented. Specifically, one and two-dimensional arrays of Yagi-Uda and horn antennas were modeled in the bandwidth [0.1–5] GHz, and compared to theoretical expectations in the far-field. Precise matches between MEEP simulation and radiation pattern predictions at different frequencies and beam angles are demonstrated. Given that the computations match the theory, the effect of embedding a phased array within a medium of varying index of refraction is then computed. Understanding the effect of varying index on phased arrays is critical for proposed ultra-high energy neutrino observatories which rely on phased array detectors embedded in natural ice. Future work will develop the phased array concepts with parallel MEEP, in order to increase the detail, complexity, and speed of the computations.

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A Design Approach of Optical Phased Array with Low Side Lobe Level and Wide Angle Steering Range

Photonics ◽

10.3390/photonics8030063 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 63

Author(s):

Xinyu He ◽

Tao Dong ◽

Jingwen He ◽

Yue Xu

Keyword(s):

Phased Array ◽

Phase Distribution ◽

Beam Steering ◽

Side Lobe ◽

Design Approach ◽

Optical Antennas ◽

Side Lobe Level ◽

Wide Angle ◽

Spacing Distribution ◽

Optical Phased Array

In this paper, a new design approach of optical phased array (OPA) with low side lobe level (SLL) and wide angle steering range is proposed. This approach consists of two steps. Firstly, a nonuniform antenna array is designed by optimizing the antenna spacing distribution with particle swarm optimization (PSO). Secondly, on the basis of the optimized antenna spacing distribution, PSO is further used to optimize the phase distribution of the optical antennas when the beam steers for realizing lower SLL. Based on the approach we mentioned, we design a nonuniform OPA which has 1024 optical antennas to achieve the steering range of ±60°. When the beam steering angle is 0°, 20°, 30°, 45° and 60°, the SLL obtained by optimizing phase distribution is −21.35, −18.79, −17.91, −18.46 and −18.51 dB, respectively. This kind of OPA with low SLL and wide angle steering range has broad application prospects in laser communication and lidar system.

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