A beam scanner based on an on-chip optical switch array with high emission efficiency

We propose an optical beam scanner based on an on-chip 1x100 micro-ring optical switch array. By adopting a combination of optical switch array and lens system, it can achieve beam steering. It uses a simple control circuit to achieve fast beam scanning. The simulation shows that its emission efficiency exceeds 95%, which is conducive to long-distance scanning and detection. All the components of this scanner can be fabricated on SOI substrate except for the optical lens, so its cost is low and the overall size of the device can be greatly reduced.In addition, since there are no moving parts in our scanner, it has advantages in performance and service life compared with mechanical optical beam steering devices. These advantages make our scanner is promising in light detection and ranging (LiDAR) field and free space optical communication field.