1000-channel integrated optical phased array with 180° field of view, high resolution, and high scalability

Optical phased array (OPA) is a promising technology for compact, solid-state beam steering, with applications ranging from free-space optical communication to light detection and ranging. However, simultaneously achieving large field of view (FOV), high resolution, and low side-lobe level (SLL) remains a major challenge. Traditional OPAs face inherent limitations: they exhibit grating lobes when the emitter spacing exceeds half the operating wavelength, while at half-wavelength spacing, significant crosstalk issues persist. Previously, we demonstrated a small-scale OPA that harnesses near-field interference and beamforming via a trapezoidal slab grating and a half-wavelength-pitch waveguide array to achieve a 180° FOV. However, its resolution was limited by the small channel count. In this work, we present a 1000-channel OPA that scales this architecture while addressing key challenges in waveguide crosstalk and control complexity. By optimizing waveguide routing, we minimize interchannel coupling in the dense waveguide array. Additionally, we propose and demonstrate a passive matrix control scheme using 20-row and 50-column pulsewidth modulation signals to arbitrarily control 1000 thermo-optic phase shifters, significantly simplifying the electronic control and packaging. Our OPA achieves grating-lobe-free beam steering across a full 180° FOV, with a high resolution of 0.07°×0.17° and a minimum SLL of −18.7 dB at 0°. This large-scale, cost-effective chip-based OPA paves the way for next-generation high-resolution, wide-angle beam-steering systems.