CN115685136A - Optical phased array chip and phased array laser radar - Google Patents
Optical phased array chip and phased array laser radar Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CN115685136A CN115685136A CN202110874387.3A CN202110874387A CN115685136A CN 115685136 A CN115685136 A CN 115685136A CN 202110874387 A CN202110874387 A CN 202110874387A CN 115685136 A CN115685136 A CN 115685136A
- Authority
- CN
- China
- Prior art keywords
- coupler
- control unit
- optical
- phased array
- light
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Pending
Links
Images
Abstract
The application provides an optical phased array chip and a phased array laser radar, which are used for transmitting or receiving light; the optical phased array chip comprises a first coupler, a regulator and an optical antenna, wherein the regulator comprises N stages of control units which are distributed in a cascade mode; each control unit is capable of splitting the single beam into two beams for the modulator to split the single beam into at least 2 N A path light beam; the phase difference and the light intensity ratio of the two paths of light beams separated by the control unit are adjustable; the first coupler optical path is connected with the control unit of the first level, and the optical antenna optical path is connected with the control unit of the Nth level; wherein N is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1. By adopting the technical scheme, the light intensity proportion and the phase difference of each path of light beam transmitted to the optical antenna are regulated and controlled, the light spot interference effect emitted by the optical antenna is improved, the quality of the light spot emitted by the optical antenna is improved, and the scanning range of the light beam emitted by the optical antenna is enlarged.
Description
Technical Field
The application belongs to the technical field of radars, and more particularly relates to an optical phased array chip and a phased array laser radar.
Background
A conventional optical phased array chip includes an input coupler, a beam splitter, a phase modulator for modulating the phase of light waves split by the beam splitter, and an optical antenna. The beam splitter is connected with the phase modulator through a waveguide, and the phase modulator is connected with the optical antenna through a waveguide; after the light wave is split, because the loss degrees of different waveguides are different, the light intensity of the light beam transmitted to the optical antenna is different, so that the light spot transmitted by the optical antenna has poor interference effect, relatively poor light spot quality and smaller scanning range of the light spot.
Disclosure of Invention
One of the purposes of the embodiment of the application is as follows: the utility model provides an optics phased array chip, aims at solving among the prior art, the relatively poor technical problem of facula quality of optical antenna transmission.
In order to solve the technical problem, the embodiment of the application adopts the following technical scheme:
an optical phased array chip for transmission or reception of light is provided; the optical phased array chip comprises a first coupler, a regulator and an optical antenna, wherein the regulator comprises N stages of control units which are distributed in a cascade mode; each control unit can divide the single light beam into two light beams, so that the regulator can divide the single light beam into at least 2 N A light beam; the phase difference and the light intensity ratio of the two paths of light beams separated by the control unit are adjustable; the first coupler optical path is connected to the control unit of the first stage, and the optical antenna optical path is connected to the control unit of the Nth stage; wherein N is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1.
In one embodiment, the control unit includes:
the second coupler can divide the single-path light beam into two paths of light beams;
the optical path of the third coupler is connected with the second coupler so as to receive the two beams split by the second coupler and emit two beams;
a first phase modulator optically connected between the second coupler and the third coupler;
the second phase modulator and the first phase modulator are respectively connected to two ends of the third coupler through optical paths;
wherein the second coupler optical path of the control unit of the first stage is connected to the first coupler, and the third coupler and/or the second phase modulator optical path of the control unit of the nth stage is connected to the optical antenna.
In one embodiment, one or two first input waveguides and two first output waveguides are arranged on the second coupler, and two second input waveguides and two second output waveguides are arranged on the third coupler; in each control unit, the two first output waveguides are connected with the two second input waveguides in a one-to-one correspondence manner; in each control unit, the first phase modulator is connected between one first output waveguide and one second input waveguide, or the first phase modulators are connected between two first output waveguides and two second input waveguides; in each control unit, one or two second output waveguides are connected with the second phase modulators;
wherein the first input waveguide of the control unit of the first stage is connected to the first coupler, and the second output waveguide and/or the second phase modulator of the control unit of the nth stage is connected to the optical antenna.
In one embodiment, the first phase modulators are electro-optic or thermo-optic phase modulators and the second phase modulators are electro-optic or thermo-optic phase modulators.
In one embodiment, the optical phased array chip further comprises a beam splitter for splitting one beam into M beams; the number of the control units of the first stage is M, and the optical path of the beam splitter is connected between the first coupler and the M control units of the first stage; wherein M is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1.
In one embodiment, the optical phased array chip further includes a substrate, the substrate is a semiconductor substrate, and the first coupler, the control unit, and the optical antenna are disposed on the substrate.
In one embodiment, the optical antenna comprises at least 2 N Sub-antennas of at least 2 N The sub-antennas are distributed in an array and connected to the control unit of the Nth stage.
In one embodiment, the optical antenna is a vertical transmitting antenna or a horizontal transmitting antenna, and the optical antenna is a one-dimensional antenna array or a two-dimensional antenna array.
In one embodiment, the first coupler is an end-face coupler or a grating coupler.
The application also provides a phased array laser radar, including the optics phased array chip.
The beneficial effect of the optics phased array chip that this application embodiment provided lies in: compared with the prior art, in the application, the adjuster arranged between the first coupler and the optical antenna comprises N-level control units in cascade distribution, each control unit can divide one light beam into two light beams, and each control unit can regulate and control the phase difference and the light intensity ratio of the two divided light beams, so that when the optical phased array chip is applied to light emission, the adjuster divides the single light beam coupled by the first coupler into at least 2 N The phase control and the light intensity control of each light beam are completed, so that the light intensity proportion and the phase difference of each light beam transmitted to the optical antenna are controlled, the light spot interference effect emitted by the optical antenna is improved, the quality of the light spot emitted by the optical antenna is improved, and the scanning range of the light beam emitted by the optical antenna is enlarged. Correspondingly, the phased array laser radar that this embodiment provided also has the advantage of above-mentioned optics phased array chip to phased array laser radar's detection effect has been improved.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the prior art descriptions will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive exercise.
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical phased array chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a control unit of the optical phased array chip provided in FIG. 1;
fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an optical phased array chip according to a second embodiment of the present application;
fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an optical phased array chip according to a third embodiment of the present application;
fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an optical phased array chip according to a fourth embodiment of the present application;
fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an optical phased array chip according to a fifth embodiment of the present application.
Wherein, in the figures, the various reference numbers:
10-a first coupler; 20-a regulator; 21-a control unit; 211-a second coupler; 2111-first coupling region; 2112-first input waveguide; 2113-first output waveguide; 212-a third coupler; 2121-a second coupling region; 2122-a second input waveguide; 2123-a second output waveguide; 213-a first phase modulator; 214-a second phase modulator; 30-an optical antenna; 31-a sub-antenna; 40-a beam splitter; 41-a light splitter; 50-connecting waveguides.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present application, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are illustrative and intended to explain the present application and should not be construed as limiting the present application.
In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "length," "width," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like, as used herein, refer to an orientation or positional relationship indicated in the drawings, which is for convenience and simplicity of description, and does not indicate or imply that the referenced device or element must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, is not to be considered as limiting.
Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise, wherein two or more includes two.
In this application, unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and encompass, for example, both fixed and removable connections or integral parts thereof; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.
The following detailed description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples:
example one
Referring to fig. 1, the optical phased array chip provided in the embodiment of the present application is mainly used for transmitting or receiving light, that is, the optical phased array chip is configured as a transmitting chip or a receiving chip. The optical phased array chip comprises a first coupler 10, a regulator 20 and an optical antenna 30, wherein the first coupler 10, the regulator 20 and the optical antenna 30 are sequentially connected through an optical path; the modulator 20 is used for modulating the phase and intensity of the light beam.
The regulator 20 comprises N stages of control units 21 distributed in cascadeWherein N is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1, namely N is 1,2,3,4, 8230, 8230; it is understood that the regulator 20 includes a control unit 21 of a first stage, a control unit 21 of a second stage, a control unit 21 of a third stage 8230' \ a control unit 21 of an N-1 stage, a control unit 21 of an N stage; the control unit 21 of the first level comprises at least one control unit 21, the control unit 21 of the second level comprises at least two control units 21, the control unit 21 of the third level comprises at least four control units 21 \8230; and the control unit 21 of the N-1 level comprises at least 2 N-2 A control unit 21, the control unit 21 of the Nth stage comprising at least 2 N-1 A control unit 21. The first coupler 10 is optically connected to the control unit 21 of the first stage, and the optical antenna 30 is optically connected to the control unit 21 of the nth stage. It should be noted that each control unit 21 is capable of splitting the single light beam into two light beams, so that the adjuster 20 can split the single light beam into at least 2 N A path light beam; the phase difference and the light intensity ratio of the two paths of light beams separated by each control unit 21 are adjustable; it can be understood that each control unit 21 can receive one light beam and divide the light beam into two light beams for performing phase difference control and light intensity control, so that the adjuster 20 divides the light beam into at least 2 light beams for performing phase difference control and light intensity control N And (6) light beams.
Optionally, when N ≧ 2, the control unit 21 of the a-th stage is connected to two control units 21 of the control unit 21 of the a + 1-th stage; wherein a is a natural number, and 1 is more than or equal to a and more than N.
It should be noted that, when the optical phased array chip is a transmitting chip, the first coupler 10 is an input coupler, the control unit 21 of the first stage is a receiving end of the regulator 20, the control unit 21 of the nth stage is a transmitting end of the regulator 20, and the optical antenna 30 is a transmitting chip; a receiving end optical path of the first-stage control unit 21 is connected to the first coupler 10, and a transmitting end optical path of the nth-stage control unit 21 is connected to the optical antenna 30; when the laser modulator works, the first coupler 10 couples one path of light beam emitted by an external laser to the first-stage control unit 21 of the modulator 20, and the path of light beam sequentially passes through the second-stage control unit 21, the third-stage control unit 21 \8230 \ 8230, and the Nth-1 th-stage control unit21. A control unit 21 of the Nth stage for being divided by the regulator 20 into at least 2 stages for performing phase regulation and light intensity regulation N The optical antenna 30 will complete at least 2 of phase and light intensity control N The light beam is emitted to the outside.
In a specific embodiment, in the first-stage control unit 21, a receiving end optical path of the control unit 21 is connected to the first coupler 10, and one control unit 21 receives one path of light beam coupled by the first coupler 10 and divides the path of light beam into two paths of light beams for completing phase difference regulation and light intensity ratio regulation; the light paths at the emitting ends of the control units 21 are connected to the two control units 21 of the second stage, so that the two light beams divided by the control units 21 are respectively emitted to the two control units 21 of the second stage in a one-to-one correspondence manner; wherein, the control unit 21 of the first stage emits at least two light beams together. In the second-stage control unit 21, the receiving end optical paths of the two control units 21 are connected to the transmitting end of one control unit 21 of the first stage to respectively receive two paths of light beams emitted from one control unit 21 of the first stage in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and each control unit 21 receives one path of light beam emitted from the control unit 21 of the first stage and divides the path of light beam into two paths of light beams for completing phase difference regulation and light intensity proportion regulation; the light paths at the emitting ends of the control units 21 are connected to the two control units 21 at the third level, so that the two light beams divided by the control units 21 are respectively emitted to the two control units 21 at the third level one by one; wherein the control unit 21 of the second stage emits at least four light beams in common. In the third-stage control unit 21, the light paths of the receiving ends of the two control units 21 are connected to the transmitting end of one control unit 21 of the second stage to respectively receive two paths of light beams emitted from one control unit 21 of the second stage in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and each control unit 21 receives one path of light beam emitted from the control unit 21 of the second stage and divides the light beam into two paths of light beams for completing phase difference regulation and light intensity proportion regulation; the light paths at the emitting ends of the control units 21 are connected to the two control units 21 at the fourth stage, so that the two light beams divided by the control units 21 are respectively emitted to the two control units 21 at the fourth stage in a one-to-one correspondence manner; wherein, the control unit 21 of the third stage outputs eight light beams in total. 8230and 8230, and so on, in the control unit 21 of the nth stage,the receiving end light paths of the two control units 21 are connected to the transmitting end of one control unit 21 of the (N-1) th level to respectively receive two paths of light beams emitted from one control unit 21 of the (N-1) th level in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and each control unit 21 receives one path of light beam emitted from the control unit 21 of the (N-1) th level and divides the path of light beam into two paths of light beams for completing phase difference regulation and light intensity proportion regulation; wherein the control unit 21 of the Nth stage co-emits at least 2 N A path light beam; the emitting end of each control unit 21 is optically connected to the optical antenna 30, so that the optical antenna 30 can emit at least 2 of the control units 21 of the Nth stage N The light beam is emitted to the outside. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 21 of the first level includes one control unit 21, the control unit 21 of the second level includes two control units 21, the control unit 21 of the third level includes four control units 21 \8230 \ 8230; \ 8230; and the control unit 21 of the N-1 level includes 2 N-2 A control unit 21, the control unit 21 of the Nth stage including 2 N-1 A control unit 21, a regulator 20 divides the light beam coupled by the first coupler 10 into 2 N Optical beam, optical antenna 30 will 2 N The light beam is emitted to the outside.
Optionally, when the optical phased array chip is set as a receiving chip, the optical antenna 30 is a receiving antenna, the control unit 21 of the first stage is a transmitting end of the regulator 20, the control unit 21 of the nth stage is a receiving end of the regulator 20, and the first coupler 10 is an output coupler; the receiving end optical path of the nth stage control unit 21 is connected to the optical antenna 30, and the transmitting end optical path of the first stage control unit 21 is connected to the first coupler 10; during operation, the optical antenna 30 receives a plurality of external light beams and transmits the light beams to the nth-stage control unit 21 of the modulator 20, the light beams sequentially pass through the nth-1-stage control unit 21, the nth-2-stage control unit 21 \8230 \ 8230 \ 8230, the third-stage control unit 21, the second-stage control unit 21 and the first-stage control unit 21 to be modulated into one light beam which is modulated by the modulator 20 to complete phase modulation and light intensity modulation, and finally, the first coupler 10 couples the light beam which is modulated by the phase modulation and light intensity modulation to an external detector.
The laser, the optical phased array chip and the detector are all part of the phased array laser radar.
It should be further noted that, in this embodiment, the optical phased array chip is mainly described by taking the optical phased array chip as an emitting chip as an example, and hereinafter, unless otherwise described, the optical phased array chip may be based on the optical phased array chip being the emitting chip, but the optical phased array chip is not limited to be the emitting chip. It is to be understood that, when the optical phased array chip is configured as a receiving chip, the optical antenna 30 is configured as a receiving antenna, the control unit 21 of the first stage is configured as a transmitting end of the regulator 20, the control unit 21 of the nth stage is configured as a receiving end of the regulator 20, the first coupler 10 is configured as an input coupler, and an optical path of the receiving end of the control unit 21 of the nth stage is connected to the optical antenna 30, and an optical path of the transmitting end of the control unit 21 of the first stage is connected to the first coupler 10.
In the embodiment of the present application, the adjuster 20 disposed between the first coupler 10 and the optical antenna 30 includes N-stage control units 21 distributed in a cascade manner, each control unit 21 can divide one light beam into two light beams, and each control unit 21 can regulate and control the phase difference and the light intensity ratio of the two divided light beams, so that when the optical phased array chip is applied to light emission, the adjuster 20 divides the single light beam coupled by the first coupler 10 into at least 2 light beams N The light beams are obtained, and the phase regulation and the light intensity regulation of each light beam are completed, so that the light intensity proportion and the phase difference of each light beam transmitted to the optical antenna 30 are regulated and controlled, the light spot interference effect emitted by the optical antenna 30 is improved, and the quality of the light spot emitted by the optical antenna 30 is improved; moreover, generally, the conventional optical phased array chip can only phase modulate the light beam emitted by the conventional optical phased array chip, the control type of the emitted light spot is single, and it is difficult to satisfy the emission of the light beam with a large angle, that is, it is difficult to realize the scanning of the light beam with a large angle range, while the optical phased array chip provided by this embodiment divides the single light beam coupled by the first coupler 10 into at least 2 light beams by the adjuster 20 N The light beams are divided, and the phase adjustment and the light intensity adjustment of each light beam are completed, so that the light intensity proportion and the phase difference of each light beam transmitted to the optical antenna 30 are adjusted,that is, the optical phased array chip of the embodiment can perform phase modulation on the light beam and adjust and control the light intensity, so that the scanning range of the light beam emitted by the optical antenna 30 is larger, and the scanning range of the phased array laser radar is enlarged. In addition, generally, in order to realize emission of a large-angle light beam by using a conventional optical phased array chip, the distance between the optical antennas 30 needs to be made very small, and the distance between the optical antennas 30 is usually required to be smaller than the working wavelength, which is very high for the optical antennas 30, that is, the processing requirement for the optical phased array chip is very high; the optical phased array chip of the embodiment is more flexible in phase regulation and control and light intensity regulation and control of light beams, so that the requirements and the processing difficulty of the optical antenna 30 are reduced.
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, the control unit 21 includes a second coupler 211, a third coupler 212, a first phase modulator 213 and a second phase modulator 214. The second coupler 211 can split the single beam into two beams; the optical path of the third coupler 212 is connected to the second coupler 211, and can converge the two light beams split by the second coupler 211 into a single light beam and then split the single light beam into two light beams; first phase modulator 213 is optically connected between second coupler 211 and third coupler 212, and first phase modulator 213 and second phase modulator 214 are optically connected to both ends of third coupler 212, respectively. Wherein, the second coupler 211 of the control unit 21 of the first stage is optically connected to the first coupler 10, and the second phase modulator 214 and/or the third coupler 212 of the control unit 21 of the nth stage is optically connected to the optical antenna 30.
Alternatively, when N ≧ 2, one second phase modulator 214 or third coupler 212 of control unit 21 of the a-th stage is waveguide-connected to second couplers 211 of two control units 21 of the a + 1-th stage; wherein a is a natural number, and 1 is more than or equal to a and more than N. It is to be understood that, in one control unit 21, when second phase modulator 214 is set to one, second phase modulator 214 and third coupler 212 of one control unit 21 of the nth stage are each waveguide-connected to optical antenna 30; when the second phase modulators 214 are provided in two, both the second phase modulators 214 of one control unit 21 of the nth stage are waveguide-connected to the optical antenna 30.
It should be noted that the receiving end of the second coupler 211 is configured to receive one light beam and divide the one light beam into two light beams. The receiving end optical path of the third coupler 212 is connected to the transmitting end of the second coupler 211, so as to converge the two light beams split by the second coupler 211 into a single light beam, and then split the single light beam into two light beams. The optical path of the first phase modulator 213 is connected between the transmitting end of the second coupler 211 and the receiving end of the third coupler 212, so that the two light beams divided by the third coupler 212 are two light beams after the regulation of the light intensity ratio is completed. The receiving end of second phase modulator 214 is optically connected to the transmitting end of third coupler 212, so as to adjust and control the phase difference between the two beams emitted from third coupler 212. It can be understood that, in operation, the receiving end of the second coupler 211 receives one light beam and divides the one light beam into two light beams, and the first phase modulator 213 regulates and controls the light intensity ratio of the two light beams; the third coupler 212 receives the two light beams, and divides the two light beams into two light beams after the two light beams are converged into a single light beam, and at this time, the two light beams divided by the third coupler 212 are two light beams after the light intensity proportion is finished due to the action of the first phase modulator 213; the second phase modulator 214 phase-difference modulates the two beams split by the third coupler 212. Wherein, the third coupler 212 is divided into two light beams for completing the phase difference and light intensity ratio control, one light beam is received by the second coupler 211 of the control unit 21 of the next stage, that is, the second coupler 211 of the next stage is enabled to receive one light beam, therefore, by adopting the above technical scheme, the second coupler 211, the third coupler 212, the first phase modulator 213 and the second phase modulator 214 are used in cooperation, so that the control unit 21 receives one light beam and emits two light beams for completing the phase difference control and light intensity ratio control, thus, the regulator 20 is enabled to divide one light beam into at least 2 light beams for completing the phase difference control and light intensity ratio control N The light beam helps to improve the quality of the light spot emitted from the optical antenna 30 and the scanning range of the light beam.
Optionally, the second coupler 211 and the third coupler 212 are configured as multi-mode interference couplers, the first phase modulator 213 and the second phase modulator 214 are used for modulating the phase of the light beam, and when the first phase modulator 213 is waveguide-connected between the second coupler 211 and the third coupler 212, the first phase modulator 213 can modulate the light intensity ratio of the two light beams emitted from the third coupler 212.
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2 together, one or two first input waveguides 2112 and two first output waveguides 2113 are provided on the second coupler 211, and it can be understood that the second coupler 211 is configured as a 1 × 2 or 2 × 2 coupler; two second input waveguides 2122 and two second output waveguides 2123 are provided on the third coupler 212, it being understood that the third coupler 212 is configured as a 2 x 2 coupler. When two first input waveguides 2112 are arranged on the second coupler 211, one of the first input waveguides 2112 is used for connecting to the first coupler 10, the third coupler 212 or the second phase modulator 214, and the other first input waveguide 2112 is a spare waveguide; when only one first input waveguide 2112 is provided on the second coupler 211, then the second coupler 211 has no spare waveguide. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the first input waveguides 2112 in the present embodiment are provided in two.
In each control unit 21, the two first output waveguides 2113 of the second coupler 211 are connected to the two second input waveguides 2122 of the third coupler 212 in a one-to-one correspondence.
In each control unit 21, first phase modulators 213 are provided in one, and a first phase modulator 213 waveguide is connected between a first output waveguide 2113 and a second input waveguide 2122; alternatively, in each control unit 21, two first phase modulators 213 are provided, and each of the first phase modulators 213 is waveguide-connected between one first output waveguide 2113 and one second input waveguide 2122, that is, the first phase modulator 213 is waveguide-connected between two first output waveguides 2113 and two second input waveguides 2122. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, in the present embodiment, first phase modulator 213 and second phase modulator 214 of one control unit 21 are provided as one.
In each control unit 21, one second phase modulator 214 is provided, and the receiving-end waveguide of this second phase modulator 214 is connected to any one second output waveguide 2123; alternatively, the second phase modulators 214 are provided in two, and the receiving-end one-to-one corresponding waveguides of the two second phase modulators 214 are connected to the two second output waveguides 2123.
Wherein the first input waveguide 2112 waveguide of the control unit 21 of the first stage is connected to the transmitting end of the first coupler 10, and the second output waveguide 2123 or the second phase modulator 214 waveguide of the control unit 21 of the nth stage is connected to the optical antenna 30. It is to be understood that, in one control unit 21, when the second phase modulators 214 are set to one, the second phase modulators 214 and the second output waveguides 2123 of one control unit 21 of the nth stage are each waveguide-connected to the optical antenna 30; when the second phase modulators 214 are provided in two, both the second phase modulators 214 of one control unit 21 of the nth stage are waveguide-connected to the optical antenna 30.
Alternatively, when N ≧ 2, one second phase modulator 214 or third coupler 212 of control unit 21 of the a-th stage is waveguide-connected to second couplers 211 of two control units 21 of the a + 1-th stage; wherein a is a natural number, and 1 is more than or equal to a and more than N. It is to be understood that, in one control unit 21, when the second phase modulators 214 are set to one, the second phase modulators 214 and the second output waveguides 2123 of one control unit 21 of the nth stage are each waveguide-connected to the optical antenna 30; when the second phase modulators 214 are provided in two, both the second phase modulators 214 of one control unit 21 of the nth stage are waveguide-connected to the optical antenna 30.
In this embodiment, during operation, one first input waveguide 2112 of the second coupler 211 receives one path of light beam, the path of light beam is divided into two paths of light beams respectively emitted from the two first output waveguides 2113, the light beam on one or two first output waveguides 2113 passes through the first phase modulator 213, the light beams on the two first output waveguides 2113 respectively pass through the two second input waveguides 2122 and are converged into one path of light beam, and then the one path of light beam is divided into two paths of light beams through the two second output waveguides 2123, and the two paths of light beams have already completed light intensity proportional control; the light beam on the second output waveguide 2123 is phase-modulated by the second phase modulator 214, so that the phase difference regulation of the two light beams is completed; then, a second output waveguide2123 is received by the first input waveguide 2112 of the control unit 21 of the next stage, that is, the second coupler 211 of the next stage receives one light beam, so that, by adopting the above technical scheme, one control unit 21 receives one light beam and divides the one light beam into two light beams which complete phase difference regulation and control and light intensity proportion regulation, and the regulator 20 can divide one light beam into at least 2 light beams which complete phase difference regulation and control and light intensity proportion regulation N The light beam helps to improve the quality of the light spot emitted by the optical antenna 30 and the scanning range of the light beam.
In a particular embodiment, the second coupler 211 includes a first coupling region 2111, with the first input waveguide 2112 and the first output waveguide 2113 each waveguided to the first coupling region 2111; the third coupler 212 includes a second coupling region 2121, and the second input waveguide 2122 and the second output waveguide 2123 are each waveguide-connected to the second coupling region 2121.
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 2, first phase modulators 213 are electro-optic or thermo-optic phase modulators and second phase modulators 214 are electro-optic or thermo-optic phase modulators. The first phase modulator 213 and the second phase modulator 214 both function to regulate and control the phase, and when the first phase modulator 213 is disposed between the second coupler 211 and the third coupler 212, the two light beams emitted from the third coupler 212 can be regulated and controlled to obtain the light intensity ratio. Here, the types of the first phase modulator 213 and the second phase modulator 214 are not limited only as long as both the first phase modulator 213 and the second phase modulator 214 can modulate the phase. In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1, the optical phased array chip further includes a substrate (not shown), the substrate is a semiconductor substrate, and the first coupler 10, the control unit 21 and the optical antenna 30 are disposed on the substrate. Through adopting the above technical scheme, make first coupler 10, control power supply and optical antenna 30 homoenergetic bear on the substrate, realize the structure protection to first coupler 10, the control unit 21 and optical antenna 30, guarantee first coupler 10, the relative position relation of the control unit 21 and optical antenna 30, in order to guarantee the phase regulation and control and the light intensity regulation and control effect of the control unit 21, thereby guarantee that optics phased array chip can launch steadily and regulate and control the effectAt least 2 for completing phase regulation and light intensity regulation N And the light beams are used, so that the quality and the scanning range of light spots emitted by the optical phased array chip are ensured.
The first coupler 10, the control unit 21, and the optical antenna 30 may be formed by etching a substrate, but the first coupler 10, the control unit 21, and the optical antenna 30 may be separately provided on the substrate.
The substrate is a semiconductor substrate, and the material of the substrate is SOI, gaAs, inP, LNOI or GeOI, etc.
In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 1, the optical antenna 30 includes at least 2 N Sub-antenna 31, at least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 are distributed in an array and connected to the nth-stage control unit 21; wherein the sub-antenna 31 is a transmitting waveguide. It will be appreciated that the number of sub-antennas 31 is the same as the number of paths of the beams emitted by the nth stage control unit 21, and is at least 2 N The sub-antenna 31 is divided into at least 2 with the regulator 20 N The light beams are arranged in one-to-one correspondence, then at least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 correspond one-to-one to at least 2 divided by the reception adjuster 20 N And the light beam is emitted to the outside. By adopting the technical scheme, the optical antennas 30 are distributed in an array, so that at least 2 divided from the regulator 20 can be better divided N The light beam is emitted to the outside, so that the effect that the light beam is emitted by the optical phased array chip is ensured.
Wherein, in the embodiment, at least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 are distributed in an array such that the optical antenna 30 forms a grating structure. At least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 are distributed in a uniform array, of course, at least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 may also be distributed in a non-uniform array.
In this embodiment, at least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 are distributed in a one-dimensional array, that is, the optical antenna 30 is a one-dimensional antenna array, and each sub-antenna 31 is a linear antenna.
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1, the first coupler 10 is an end-face coupler or a grating coupler. When the optical phased array chip is a transmitting chip, the first coupler 10 is an input coupler, and is mainly used for coupling the light beam of an external laser to the control unit 21 of the first stage of the regulator 20; when the optical phased array chip is a receiving chip, the first coupler 10 is an output coupler, and is mainly used for coupling the light beam of the control unit 21 of the first stage to an external detector. Therefore, the type of the first coupler 10 is not limited exclusively in the present embodiment as long as the first coupler 10 can perform a corresponding function based on the type of the optical phased array chip.
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1, the optical antenna 30 is a vertical transmitting antenna, and it is understood that the vertical direction is the up-down direction illustrated in fig. 1, and the optical antenna 30 receives at least 2 of the light emitted from the control unit 21 of the nth stage of the regulator 20 N A light beam and at least 2 N The path light beam is emitted upwards, downwards or simultaneously upwards and downwards, so that the light emission effect of the optical phased array chip is completed.
Wherein, as in FIG. 1, at least 2 of the optical antennas 30 N The sub-antennas 31 are arrayed in the up-down direction.
Example two
Referring to fig. 3, the present embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment except that: the optical antenna 30 is a horizontal transmitting antenna, and it is understood that the horizontal direction is the left-right direction illustrated in fig. 3, and the horizontal direction is perpendicular to the vertical direction described in the first embodiment. The optical antenna 30 receives at least 2 of the signals transmitted from the control unit 21 of the Nth stage of the regulator 20 N A light beam and combining the at least 2 N The light beams are emitted to the right, thereby completing the light emission of the optical phased array chip.
The rest of this embodiment is the same as the first embodiment, and the unexplained features in this embodiment are explained by the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.
EXAMPLE III
In one embodiment, referring to fig. 4, the optical phased array chip further includes a beam splitter 40, where the beam splitter 40 is configured to split one light beam into M light beams; the number of the control units 21 of the first stage is M, and the optical path of the beam splitter 40 is connected between the first coupler 10 and the M control units 21 of the first stage; wherein M is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1, and can be understood as 1,2,3,4, 8230, and M and N can be the same or different.
It should be noted that, the beam splitter 40 is configured to split one light beam into M light beams, and then the beam splitter 40 has M emission ends; the receiving end waveguide of the beam splitter 40 is connected to the first coupler 10, and the M transmitting ends of the beam splitter 40 are connected to the second couplers 211 of the M control units 21 of the first stage in a one-to-one correspondence manner; wherein, one control unit 21 of the first stage receives one path of light beam emitted from the light beam splitter, and the M control units 21 of the first stage correspondingly receive M paths of light beam emitted from the light beam splitter 40. In operation, the first coupler 10 couples a light beam emitted by an external laser to the beam splitter 40, and the beam splitter 40 divides the light beam coupled by the first coupler 10 into M light beams, and the M light beams are emitted to the second couplers 211 of the M control units 21 of the first stage through M emitting ends of the beam splitter 40 in a one-to-one correspondence manner; then, each light beam emitted from the M emitting ends of the beam splitter 40 sequentially passes through the first-stage control unit 21, the second-stage control unit 21, the third-stage control unit 21 \8230, the (N-1) th-stage control unit 21, the N-stage control unit 21, and the control unit 21 of each stage performs phase difference regulation and light intensity ratio regulation on the two divided light beams, so that the M light beams emitted from the beam splitter 40 are divided into M2 x 2 light beams by the modulator 20 to complete phase regulation and light intensity regulation N The optical antenna 30 performs at least M2 of phase control and light intensity control N The light beam is emitted to the outside.
In this embodiment, by adopting the above technical solution, the adjuster 20 is connected to the transmitting end of the beam splitter 40 through waveguide, so as to perform phase adjustment and light intensity adjustment on M paths of light beams split from the beam splitter 40, thereby solving the problem in the related art that the quality of light spots is poor due to different light intensities transmitted to the optical antenna 30 through the M paths of light beams split from the beam splitter 40, so that the light beams sequentially pass through the first coupler 10, the beam splitter 40, the adjuster 20 and the optical antenna 30, so as to obtain adjustment and control of the phase and the light intensity, and finally the quality of light spots of the light beams emitted from the optical antenna 30 is better, and the scanning range is larger.
In a specific embodiment, the beam splitter 40 is configured as a plurality of optical splitters 41 distributed in cascade, wherein a receiving end waveguide of the optical splitter 41 of the first stage is connected to the first coupler 10, and a transmitting end waveguide of the optical splitter 41 of the last stage is connected to the second coupler 211 of the control unit 21 of the first stage of the regulator 20.
The rest of this embodiment is the same as the first embodiment, and the unexplained features in this embodiment are explained by the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.
Example four
Referring to fig. 5, the present embodiment is substantially the same as the third embodiment except that: the optical antenna 30 is a horizontal transmitting antenna, and it will be understood that the horizontal direction is the left-right direction illustrated in fig. 5, and the horizontal direction is perpendicular to the vertical direction. The optical antenna 30 receives M × 2 transmitted from the control unit 21 of the nth stage of the regulator 20 N Pass the light beam, and convert M x 2 N The light beams are emitted to the right, so that the light emission of the optical phased array chip is completed.
The remaining parts of this embodiment are the same as those of the embodiment, and the features that are not explained in this embodiment are all explained as those of the third embodiment, which are not described herein again.
EXAMPLE five
Referring to fig. 6, the present embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment except that: at least 2 N The sub-antennas 31 are distributed in a two-dimensional array, that is, the optical antenna 30 is a two-dimensional antenna array; each sub-antenna 31 is a planar antenna, and each sub-antenna 31 is a two-dimensional antenna. It should be noted that the optical phased array chip further includes at least 2 N The number of the connecting waveguides 50, the number of the sub-antennas 31, and the number of the paths of the light beams emitted by the control unit 21 of the Nth stage are the same, and each connecting waveguide 50 is connected between each path of the light beams emitted by the control unit 21 of the Nth stage and each sub-antenna 31, so that at least 2 of the connecting waveguides are formed N Sub-antenna 31 passes through at least 2 N The plurality of connection waveguides 50 receive 2 emitted from the control unit 21 of the Nth stage N And the light beam is emitted to the outside.
By adopting the above technical scheme, the setting of two-dimensional antenna for optical antenna 30 can realize two-dimensional scanning, need not change optical antenna 30's operating wavelength, thereby, make optical phased array chip can directly realize two-dimensional scanning, realize the transmission of two-dimensional light promptly.
The rest of this embodiment is the same as the first embodiment, and the features that are not explained in this embodiment are all explained as the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.
EXAMPLE six
Referring to fig. 1 to 6, based on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth concepts, the present embodiment provides a phased array lidar including an optical phased array chip. The optical phased array chip in this embodiment is the same as the optical phased array chip in the previous embodiment, and reference is specifically made to the description of the optical phased array chip in the previous embodiment, which is not repeated herein.
It should be noted that the phased array lidar further includes a laser and a detector. When the optical phased array chip is a transmitting chip, the laser emits a light beam, the first coupler 10 of the optical phased array chip receives the light beam emitted by the laser, couples the light beam emitted by the laser into a light beam and emits the light beam to the first-stage control unit 21 of the regulator 20, and the light beam passes through the second-stage control unit 21, the third-stage control unit 21 \8230, the Nth-1 th-stage control unit 21 and the Nth-stage control unit 21 in sequence to be divided into at least 2 stages of which the phase regulation and the light intensity regulation are finished by the regulator 20 N The optical antenna 30 performs at least 2 of phase control and light intensity control N Transmitting the light beam to an external target object; when the optical phased array chip is a receiving chip, a plurality of light beams reflected by an external target object are received by the optical antenna 30, the optical antenna 30 transmits the light beams to the nth-level control unit 21 of the modulator 20, and the light beams sequentially pass through the nth-1-level control unit 21, the nth-2-level control unit 21 \8230, the third-level control unit 21, the second-level control unit 21 and the first-level control unit 21 to be modulated by the modulator 20 to complete phase inversionThe first coupler 10 couples the path of light beam with the phase and light intensity control to the detector. Thus, the laser, the detector and the optical phased array chip complete the detection function of the target object.
In the present embodiment, by adopting the above-mentioned improvement of the optical phased array chip, when the optical phased array chip is applied to the emission of light, the adjuster 20 of the optical phased array chip divides the single beam coupled by the first coupler 10 into at least 2 N The light beams are obtained, and the phase regulation and the light intensity regulation of each light beam are completed, so that the light intensity proportion and the phase difference of each light beam transmitted to the optical antenna 30 are regulated and controlled, the light spot interference effect emitted by the optical antenna 30 is improved, and the quality of the light spot emitted by the optical antenna 30 is improved; and, the scanning range of the light beam emitted from the optical antenna 30 is made larger, thereby increasing the scanning range of the phased array lidar.
The rest of this embodiment is the same as the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth embodiments, and the features not explained in this embodiment are explained as the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth embodiments, which are not described herein again.
The above description is only exemplary of the present application and should not be taken as limiting the present application, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.
Claims (10)
1. An optical phased array chip for transmission or reception of light; the optical phased array chip is characterized by comprising a first coupler, a regulator and an optical antenna, wherein the regulator comprises N stages of control units which are distributed in a cascade mode; each control unit can divide the single light beam into two light beams, so that the regulator can divide the single light beam into at least 2 N A path light beam; the phase difference and the light intensity ratio of the two paths of light beams separated by the control unit are adjustable; the first coupler optical path is connected to the control unit of the first stage, and the optical antenna optical path is connected to the control unit of the Nth stage; it is composed ofIn the formula, N is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1.
2. The optical phased array chip of claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises:
the second coupler can divide the single-path light beam into two paths of light beams;
the optical path of the third coupler is connected with the second coupler so as to receive the two beams split by the second coupler and emit two beams;
a first phase modulator optically connected between the second coupler and the third coupler;
the second phase modulator and the first phase modulator are respectively connected with two ends of the third coupler in an optical path;
wherein the second coupler optical path of the control unit of the first stage is connected to the first coupler, and the third coupler and/or the second phase modulator optical path of the control unit of the nth stage is connected to the optical antenna.
3. The optical phased array chip of claim 2, wherein one or two first input waveguides and two first output waveguides are provided on said second coupler, and wherein two second input waveguides and two second output waveguides are provided on said third coupler; in each control unit, the two first output waveguides are connected with the two second input waveguides in a one-to-one correspondence manner; in each control unit, the first phase modulator is connected between one first output waveguide and one second input waveguide, or the first phase modulators are connected between two first output waveguides and two second input waveguides; in each control unit, one or two second output waveguides are connected with the second phase modulator;
wherein the first input waveguide of the control unit of the first stage is connected to the first coupler, and the second output waveguide and/or the second phase modulator of the control unit of the nth stage is connected to the optical antenna.
4. The optical phased array chip of claim 2, wherein said first phase modulators are electro-optic phase modulators or thermo-optic phase modulators and said second phase modulators are electro-optic phase modulators or thermo-optic phase modulators.
5. The optical phased array chip as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a beam splitter for splitting one beam into M beams; the number of the control units of the first stage is M, and the optical path of the beam splitter is connected between the first coupler and the M control units of the first stage; wherein M is a natural number and is more than or equal to 1.
6. The optical phased array chip claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a substrate, said substrate being a semiconductor substrate, said first coupler, said control unit and said optical antenna being provided on said substrate.
7. The optical phased array chip claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein said optical antenna comprises at least 2 N Sub-antennas of at least 2 N The sub-antennas are distributed in an array and connected to the control unit of the Nth stage.
8. The optical phased array chip claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said optical antenna is a vertical transmit antenna or a horizontal transmit antenna, said optical antenna being a one-dimensional antenna array or a two-dimensional antenna array.
9. The optical phased array chip of any of claims 1-5, wherein the first coupler is an end-face coupler or a grating coupler.
10. A phased array lidar comprising an optical phased array chip as defined in any of claims 1-9.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202110874387.3A CN115685136A (en) | 2021-07-30 | 2021-07-30 | Optical phased array chip and phased array laser radar |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202110874387.3A CN115685136A (en) | 2021-07-30 | 2021-07-30 | Optical phased array chip and phased array laser radar |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CN115685136A true CN115685136A (en) | 2023-02-03 |
Family
ID=85058861
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202110874387.3A Pending CN115685136A (en) | 2021-07-30 | 2021-07-30 | Optical phased array chip and phased array laser radar |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CN (1) | CN115685136A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN117092619A (en) * | 2023-10-18 | 2023-11-21 | 吉林大学 | Coherent laser radar transceiver chip and preparation method |
-
2021
- 2021-07-30 CN CN202110874387.3A patent/CN115685136A/en active Pending
Cited By (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN117092619A (en) * | 2023-10-18 | 2023-11-21 | 吉林大学 | Coherent laser radar transceiver chip and preparation method |
| CN117092619B (en) * | 2023-10-18 | 2024-01-12 | 吉林大学 | Coherent laser radar transceiver chip and preparation method |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US10634973B2 (en) | Two-dimensional optical phased array | |
| EP0408676B1 (en) | Optical beam former for high frequency antenna arrays | |
| CN110174661B (en) | Optical phased array two-dimensional laser radar scanning chip based on polarization multiplexing | |
| US20210018603A1 (en) | Integrated two-dimensional multi-beam lidar transmitter based on butler matrix | |
| US9689968B2 (en) | Wholly optically controlled phased array radar transmitter | |
| US11721896B2 (en) | Beam steering antenna transmitter, multi-user antenna MIMO transmitter and related methods of communication | |
| US8934774B2 (en) | Phase shifter and photonic controlled beam former for phased array antennas | |
| US7609971B1 (en) | Electro optical scanning multi-function antenna | |
| CN115639543A (en) | Frequency modulated continuous wave laser radar and autopilot equipment | |
| JPH1013145A (en) | Millimeter wave array using rotman lens and optical heterodyne system | |
| CN110456324B (en) | Integrated phased array laser radar system | |
| WO2021012088A1 (en) | Phased array detection apparatus, lidar, and self-driving device | |
| CN106027134A (en) | Photonic microwave phased array transceiving system and method thereof | |
| CN110501779B (en) | Micro-ring delay matrix and microwave photon integrated multi-beam phased array chip and system | |
| CN112034657A (en) | All-solid-state chip large-angle optical beam forming system | |
| US11283168B2 (en) | Device for optically receiving a signal coming from a phased antenna array and associated antenna system | |
| CN115685136A (en) | Optical phased array chip and phased array laser radar | |
| KR102611737B1 (en) | Optical beamforming device using phased array antenna and operating method thereof | |
| US11927695B2 (en) | Phased array emission apparatus, LiDAR, and automated driving device | |
| CN113985603B (en) | Light beam scanning system | |
| US11589140B2 (en) | Optical beamforming device using phased array antenna and operating method thereof | |
| CN211880393U (en) | Planar sparse light-controlled phased array transmitting antenna system with low array element number | |
| CN115842592A (en) | Optical phased array based large-range light beam scanning system and method for space laser communication | |
| Henion et al. | Electrooptic phased array transmitter | |
| JP2001211022A (en) | Array antenna and method of scanning its frequencies |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PB01 | Publication | ||
| PB01 | Publication | ||
| SE01 | Entry into force of request for substantive examination | ||
| SE01 | Entry into force of request for substantive examination |