Mode-division multiplexing enabled 2D optical phased array with large scale and wide field of view

2D optical phased arrays (OPAs) face a fundamental tradeoff between large scale and wide field of view (FOV), as scaling the array requires greater antenna spacings, which constrains the FOV. We report a mode-division multiplexing (MDM) based 2D OPA that simultaneously supports both large-scale design and wide FOV for beam steering. By employing a single waveguide bus and encoding routing information into distinct waveguide modes, the architecture eliminates dense inter-pixel waveguide pathways, thereby reducing spatial footprint and extending the attainable FOV. Our proposed MDM-OPA depicts 11.2° × 11.2° FOV at <i>λ</i> = 1.55 μm and supports an array scale of 16 × ∞ (theoretically unlimited). Moreover, the simulated maximum insertion loss for all radiating pixels remains below 3 dB across the entire <i>C</i>-band. Owing to its high scalability, the proposed design can be further optimized for even larger FOV and array dimensions, making it a promising platform for free-space optical communication and LIDAR applications.