Singer Stefan, Xu Yilin, Skacel Sebastian Tobias, Bao Yiyang, Zwickel Heiner, Maier Pascal, Freter Lukas, Dietrich Philipp-Immanuel, Kaschel Mathias, Menzel Christoph, Randel Sebastian, Freude Wolfgang, Koos Christian
Opt Express. 2022 Dec 19;30(26):46564-46574. doi: 10.1364/OE.456952.
We demonstrate an optical phased-array 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 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 ±30 and a full-width-half-maximum beam divergence of approximately 2. The concept opens an attractive alternative to currently used grating structures and is applicable to a wide range of integration platforms.
