Wavelength-based steering of non-mechanical beam-steering devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10915004-B2
Application number	US-201916287017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2019
Priority date	Feb 27, 2018
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

An optical system has a beam-steering device, a light source, and a controller that controls the light source to actively control wavelength of the incoming light to control the output angle of the outgoing light output from the BS device. The BS device may have incoupler, waveguide, and/or outcoupler electrodes, and the system may have corresponding controllable voltage supplies actively controlled by the controller to selectively modify electric fields applied to the BS device to control corresponding operating characteristics of the BS device (e.g., in-plane and/or out-of-plane output angles of the outgoing light and/or device incoupling angle). An alternative optical system has a BS device, a detector array that generates detector signals corresponding to outgoing light received from the BS device, and a controller that processes the detector signals to determine one or more wavelengths of the outgoing light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical system comprising:
a non-mechanical beam-steering (BS) device configured to receive incoming light at an incidence angle and output outgoing light at an output angle;
a light source configured to generate the incoming light; and
a controller configured to control the light source to actively control wavelength of the incoming light to control the output angle of the outgoing light output from the BS device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the controller initially controls the light source to generate the incoming light having a first wavelength, such that the outgoing light of the first wavelength has a first output angle; and
the controller subsequently controls the light source to generate the incoming light having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, such that the outgoing light of the second wavelength has a second output angle different from the first output angle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the light source to simultaneously generate the incoming light having two or more different wavelengths such that the corresponding outgoing light simultaneously has two or more different output angles.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the BS device further comprises one or more of (i) an incoupler electrode, (ii) one or more horizontal-steering electrodes, and (iii) an outcoupler electrode; and
for each electrode, the system further comprises a controllable voltage supply configured to be actively controlled by the controller to apply a selected voltage to the corresponding electrode to apply an electric field to the BS device to actively control at least one operating characteristic of the BS device.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the BS device comprises two or more of (i) the incoupler electrode, (ii) the one or more horizontal-steering electrodes, and (iii) the outcoupler electrode.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the BS device comprises (i) the incoupler electrode, (ii) the one or more horizontal-steering electrodes, and (iii) the outcoupler electrode.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein:
the BS device comprises the incoupler electrode; and
the system comprises a controllable, incoupler-electrode voltage supply configured to be actively controlled by the controller to apply a selected incoupler-electrode voltage to the incoupler electrode to apply an electric field to an incoupler of the BS device to actively control at least one of (i) amplitude of the outgoing light and (ii) incoupling angle of the BS device.

8. The system of claim 4 , wherein:
the BS device comprises the one or more horizontal-steering electrodes; and
the system comprises a controllable, horizontal-steering voltage supply configured to be actively controlled by the controller to apply a selected horizontal-steering voltage to the horizontal-steering electrode to apply an electric field to a planar waveguide region of the BS device to actively control in-plane output angle of the outgoing light.

9. The system of claim 4 , wherein:
the BS device comprises the outcoupler electrode; and
the system comprises a controllable, outcoupler-electrode voltage supply configured to be actively controlled by the controller to apply a selected outcoupler-electrode voltage to the outcoupler electrode to apply an electric field to an outcoupler of the BS device to actively control out-of-plane output angle of the outgoing light.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
for each wavelength of two or more different wavelengths, the controller is configured to control the outcoupler-electrode voltage to cover a corresponding range of out-of-plane output angles; and
for the two or more different wavelengths, the corresponding ranges of the out-of-plane output angles collectively cover a contiguous field of regard.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the BS device comprises an Ulrich incoupler and an Ulrich outcoupler.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the BS device comprises an incoupler and an outcoupler separated by a planar waveguide region, wherein at least one of the incoupler and the outcoupler comprises:
a substrate; and
a plurality of thin-film layers over the substrate and forming an optical waveguide, wherein at least two of the thin-film layers have spatially varying optical thicknesses.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of thin-film layers comprises:
a subcladding layer over the substrate and having a spatially varying optical thickness; and
a core layer over the subcladding layer and having a spatially varying optical thickness.

14. An optical system comprising:
a non-mechanical BS device configured to receive incoming light at an incidence angle and output outgoing light at one or more output angles;
a detector array configured to receive the outgoing light and generate corresponding detector signals; and
a controller configured to process the detector signals to determine one or more wavelengths of the outgoing light.

15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising an incoupler-electrode voltage supply, wherein the controller is configured to actively control voltage applied by the incoupler-electrode voltage supply to an incoupler electrode of the BS device in order to control incoupling angle of the BS device.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to control the incoupler-electrode voltage supply based on the detector signals in order to modify the incoupling angle of the BS device.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the BS device comprises an Ulrich incoupler and an Ulrich outcoupler.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the BS device comprises an incoupler and an outcoupler separated by a planar waveguide region, wherein at least one of the incoupler and the outcoupler comprises:
a substrate; and
a plurality of thin-film layers over the substrate and forming an optical waveguide, wherein at least two of the thin-film layers have spatially varying optical thicknesses.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of thin-film layers comprises:
a subcladding layer over the substrate and having a spatially varying optical thickness; and
a core layer over the subcladding layer and having a spatially varying optical thickness.

Assignees

• Us Gov Sec Navy

Inventors

• Myers Jason D
• Frantz Jesse A
• Spillmann Christopher M
• Bekele Robel Y
• Gotjen Henry G
• Naciri Jawad
• Kolacz Jakub
• Shaw L Brandon
• Sanghera Jasbinder S

Classifications

• G02F1/295 Primary

  {Analog deflection from or} in an optical waveguide structure] · CPC title

• G02F2203/24

  beam steering · CPC title