Theoretical analysis on power stability and switch time of the non-mechanical beam steering using liquid crystal optical phased array

ABSTRACT

Focusing on the coherent optics of phased array, a dynamic theoretical model is built to analyse the process of laser beam steering using the device of liquid crystal optical phased array. Based on the dynamics of electrical field induced liquid crystal molecule rotation and the mechanism of phased control non-mechanical steering, switching time is redefined according to two curves representing receiving power on the current direction and targeting direction. Meanwhile, including the far field distribution, power stability and pointing direction, two cases with large steering step and tiny steering step are evaluated. The steering time between two angles is minished to be less than the switch-off decay time. In addition, the instability on the process of beam steering is obvious although the steering step is only half of beam width. To overcome this instability, tinier steering step is suggested although it is also limited by the driving algorithm and driving circuits.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Non-mechanical beam steering
• optical phased array
• liquid crystal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 61231012, 61405029, 91438108, 61775026).