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:
Nov. 02, 2021
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2020
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Josue Lopez, South Gate, CA (US);
Samuel Kim, Cambridge, MA (US);
Jamison Sloan, Somerville, MA (US);
Boris Kharas, Lexington, MA (US);
Jeffrey Scott Herd, Rowley, MA (US);
Marin Soljacic, Belmont, MA (US);
Cheryl Marie Sorace-Agaskar, Bedford, MA (US);
Suraj Deepak Bramhavar, Arlington, MA (US);
Steven Glenn Johnson, Arlington, MA (US);
George Barbastathis, Boston, MA (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar Luneburg lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes a curved (e.g., semi-circular or arced) grating coupler that diffracts the collimated beams out of the lens plane. The beams can be steered in the plane by controlling the direction along which the lens is illuminated and out of the plane by varying the beam wavelength. Unlike other beam steering devices, this device can operate over an extremely wide field of view—up to 180°—without any aberrations off boresight. In other words, the beam quality is uniform in all directions, unlike with aplanatic lenses, thanks to the circular symmetry of the planar Luneburg lens, which may be composed of subwavelength features. The lens is also robust to misalignment and fabrication imperfections and can be made using standard CMOS processes.