Programmable Beam Steering Based on Liquid Crystal Optical Phased Array
液晶光学相控阵可编程光束偏转研究

A one-dimensional transmission-type liquid crystal optical phased array (LCOPA) was studied.Numerical model of the device was set up.The liquid crystal director distribution under electric field was calculated according to Frank-Oseen continuum elastic theory.The phase delay and diffraction characteristic of the device were quantitatively analyzed.A real device including 1 024 electrodes was developed,which was programmable driven by FPGA circuit.Experiment results show that 60 angles can be scanned by beam steering with quasi-continuous and random-access programmable way that controlled electronically,and the maximum deflection angle is 2.001 4°.Based on the theoretical model of device,the diffraction efficiency of beam steering was discussed qualitatively.It shows that the phase valley produced between electrodes is the reason to form the diffraction lobes.