Integrated optical phased arrays: LIDAR, augmented reality, and beyond

Abstract

Recent integrated optical phased array architectures, results, and applications will be reviewed. Beam-steering optical phased arrays monolithically integrated with on-chip rare-earth-doped lasers and heterogeneously integrated with CMOS driving electronics will be shown. Passive integrated optical phased arrays that focus radiated light to tightly-confined spots in the near field and that generate quasi-Bessel beams will be discussed. Finally, integrated-phased-array-based visible-light holographic displays will be proposed as a scalable solution towards the next generation of augmented-reality head-mounted displays; passive near-eye holographic displays, visible-light liquid-crystal modulators, and liquid-crystal-based visible-light phased arrays will be presented.