TY - GEN
T1 - Beam steering mechanism in phased vertical cavity laser arrays
AU - Johnson, Matthew T.
AU - Siriani, Dominic F.
AU - Choquette, Kent D.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Beam steering with optical phased arrays is accomplished by introducing a relative phase shift between array elements [1]. This is typically achieved by altering the refractive index difference between elements, which alters the optical path length of incident radiation traveling through the elements. Beam steering with VCSEL arrays has also been shown to rely on such a refractive index variation [2], which is implemented by adjusting the current injection to the elements. However, if we view the VCSEL array as a waveguide from the active region through the distributed Bragg Reflectors, it can be shown that the index-induced phase shift between elements would only account for less than 1/100th of the observed phase shift [2]. It is thus evident that phased VCSEL arrays rely on a fundamentally different phase-shifting mechanism. To investigate this, we turn to coupled mode theory, which has previously been applied to the dynamics of coupled edge emitting laser arrays and phase tuning in injection-locked VCSELs [3, 4].
AB - Beam steering with optical phased arrays is accomplished by introducing a relative phase shift between array elements [1]. This is typically achieved by altering the refractive index difference between elements, which alters the optical path length of incident radiation traveling through the elements. Beam steering with VCSEL arrays has also been shown to rely on such a refractive index variation [2], which is implemented by adjusting the current injection to the elements. However, if we view the VCSEL array as a waveguide from the active region through the distributed Bragg Reflectors, it can be shown that the index-induced phase shift between elements would only account for less than 1/100th of the observed phase shift [2]. It is thus evident that phased VCSEL arrays rely on a fundamentally different phase-shifting mechanism. To investigate this, we turn to coupled mode theory, which has previously been applied to the dynamics of coupled edge emitting laser arrays and phase tuning in injection-locked VCSELs [3, 4].
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U2 - 10.1109/IPCon.2013.6656530
DO - 10.1109/IPCon.2013.6656530
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84892734052
SN - 9781457715075
T3 - 2013 IEEE Photonics Conference, IPC 2013
SP - 250
EP - 251
BT - 2013 IEEE Photonics Conference, IPC 2013
T2 - 2013 26th IEEE Photonics Conference, IPC 2013
Y2 - 8 September 2013 through 12 September 2013
ER -