Integrated planar lenses are critical components for analog optical information processing that enable a wide range of applications including beam steering. Conventional planar lenses require gradient index control which makes their on-chip realization challenging. Here, we introduce a new approach for beam steering by designing an array of coupled waveguides with segmented tails that allow for simultaneously achieving planar lensing and off-chip radiation. The proposed arrayed waveguide lens is built on engineering the evanescent coupling between adjacent channels to realize a photonic lattice with an equi-distant ladder of propagation constants that emulates the continuous parabolic index profile. Through coupled-mode analysis and full-wave numerical simulations, we show that selective excitation of waveguide channels enables beam steering with large field-of-views of ∼60°. The proposed arrayed waveguide lens can serve as a compact component in integrated photonic circuits for applications in imaging, sensing, and metrology.

中文翻译：

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用于光束控制的阵列波导透镜

集成平面透镜是模拟光学信息处理的关键组件，可实现包括光束控制在内的广泛应用。传统的平面透镜需要梯度折射率控制，这使得它们的片上实现具有挑战性。在这里，我们通过设计具有分段尾部的耦合波导阵列来引入一种新的光束控制方法，该阵列允许同时实现平面透镜和片外辐射。所提出的阵列波导透镜建立在对相邻通道之间的倏逝耦合进行工程设计的基础上，以实现具有等距离传播常数阶梯的光子晶格，其模拟连续抛物线折射率分布。通过耦合模式分析和全波数值模拟，我们表明，波导通道的选择性激发能够实现约 60° 大视场的光束转向。所提出的阵列波导透镜可以作为集成光子电路中的紧凑组件，用于成像、传感和计量学中的应用。