Optimum beam steering of optical phased arrays using mixed weighting technique

In this paper, we present a novel technique for high precision optical beam steering of optical phased arrays (OPA) using mixed weighting method. Optimal OPA parameters are determined to obtain the best beam directivity by minimizing the main lobe width and eliminating grating lobes of the far field diffraction pattern. The quantitative analysis for a fibre-type optical phased array is given. The calculation results demonstrate that the grating lobe level can be distinctly reduced from 80% to 20% of the main lobe level. Thus, the mixed weighting technique proposed in this paper can substantially improve the beam steering efficiency and the beam quality.