US 12,461,423 B2
Managing optical phased array performance based on angular intensity distributions
Jordan Goldstein, Boston, MA (US); Christopher Vincent Poulton, Somerville, MA (US); Michael Robert Watts, Hingham, MA (US); Peter Nicholas Russo, Arlington, MA (US); and Oleg Shatrovoy, Cambridge, MA (US)
Assigned to Analog Photonics LLC, Boston, MA (US)
Filed by Analog Photonics LLC, Boston, MA (US)
Filed on May 5, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/312,704.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/340,526, filed on May 11, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0367172 A1, Nov. 16, 2023
Int. Cl. G02F 1/29 (2006.01); G01S 17/08 (2006.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01)
CPC G02F 1/292 (2013.01) [G01S 17/08 (2013.01); G06N 7/01 (2023.01)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for imaging a region, the method comprising:
providing light to a plurality of optical antennas separated by a first set of spacings in a first optical phased array (OPA), wherein phases of light provided to respective optical antennas are controlled to form a transmitted beam from the first OPA, the beam characterized by a first angular intensity distribution that comprises a first lobe and a second lobe;
steering an angle of the beam so that the first lobe of the first angular intensity distribution scans over a first portion of the region, and the second lobe of the first angular intensity distribution scans over a second portion of the region; and
receiving light from a plurality of optical antennas separated by a second set of spacings in a second OPA, wherein at least one spacing in the second set of spacings is different from at least one spacing in the first set of spacings, and wherein phases of light received from respective optical antennas are controlled to receive light into the second OPA from different directions associated with a second angular intensity distribution that comprises a first lobe and a second lobe;
wherein the phases of the first OPA and the phases of the second OPA are configured so that:
the first lobe of the first angular intensity distribution and the first lobe of the second angular intensity distribution substantially overlap in angle during the scan of the first lobes over the first portion of the region, and
the second lobe of the first angular intensity distribution and the second lobe of the second angular intensity distribution substantially overlap in angle during the scan of the second lobes over the second portion of the region.