The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 16, 2019
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2017
Scott Skirlo, Boston, MA (US);
Cheryl Marie Sorace-agaskar, Bedford, MA (US);
Marin Soljacic, Belmont, MA (US);
Simon Verghese, Arlington, NC (US);
Jeffrey S. Herd, Rowley, MA (US);
Paul William Juodawlkis, Arlington, MA (US);
Yi Yang, Cambridge, MA (US);
Dirk Robert Englund, Cambridge, MA (US);
Mihika Prabhu, Cambridge, MA (US);
Scott Skirlo, Boston, MA (US);
Cheryl Marie Sorace-Agaskar, Bedford, MA (US);
Marin Soljacic, Belmont, MA (US);
Simon Verghese, Arlington, NC (US);
Jeffrey S. Herd, Rowley, MA (US);
Paul William Juodawlkis, Arlington, MA (US);
Yi Yang, Cambridge, MA (US);
Dirk Robert Englund, Cambridge, MA (US);
Mihika Prabhu, Cambridge, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar dielectric lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes an output coupler, such as a grating or photonic crystal, that guides the collimated beams in different directions out of the lens plane. A switch matrix controls which input port is illuminated and hence the in-plane propagation direction of the collimated beam. And a tunable light source changes the wavelength to control the angle at which the collimated beam leaves the plane of the substrate. The device is very efficient, in part because the input port (and thus in-plane propagation direction) can be changed by actuating only logN of the N switches in the switch matrix. It can also be much simpler, smaller, and cheaper because it needs fewer control lines than a conventional optical phased array with the same resolution.