Abstract

Optical beam steering is key for optical communications, laser mapping (lidar), and medical imaging. For these ap- plications, integrated photonics is an enabling technology that can provide miniaturized, lighter, lower-cost, and more power-efficient systems. However, common integrated photonic devices are too power demanding. Here, we exper- imentally demonstrate, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, beam steering by microelectromechanical (MEMS) actuation of a suspended silicon photonic wave- guide grating. Our device shows up to 5.6 degrees beam steering with 20 V actuation and power consumption below the μW level, i.e., more than five orders of magnitude lower power consumption than previous thermo-optic tuning methods. The novel combination of MEMS with integrated photonics presented in this work lays ground for the next generation of power-efficient optical beam steering systems.

Related Research Topics

• MEMS and NEMS optical actuators in SOI

Related Projects

• H2020: MORPHIC (MEMS-based zerO-power Reconfigurable Photonic ICs)