3D-printed facet-attached optical elements for beam shaping in optical phased arrays

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Singer, Stefan, Xu, Yilin, Sebastian Tobias Skacel, Bao, Yiyang, Zwickel, Heiner, Maier, Pascal, Freter, Lukas, Philipp-Immanuel Dietrich, Kaschel, Mathias, Menzel, Christoph, Randel, Sebastian, Freude, Wolfgang, Koos, Christian
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 09.01.2023
• Subjects: Direct laser writing; Optical components; Phased arrays; Physics - Applied Physics; Physics - Optics; Steering; Three dimensional printing; Waveguides
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2203.12989

We demonstrate an optical phased-array (OPA) equipped with a 3D-printed facet-attached element for shaping and deflection of the emitted beam. The beam shaper combines freeform refractive surfaces with total-internal-reflection (TIR) mirrors and is in-situ printed to edge-emitting waveguide facets using high-resolution multi-photon lithography, thereby ensuring precise alignment with respect to on-chip waveguide structures. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we achieve a grating-lobe free steering range of \(\pm 30{\deg}\) and a full-width-halfmaximum (FWHM) beam divergence of approximately \(2{\deg}\). The concept opens an attractive alternative to currently used grating structures and is applicable to a wide range of integration platforms.