Si Photonics FMCW LiDAR Chip with Solid-State Beam Steering by Interleaved Coaxial Optical Phased Array

Abstract

LiDAR has attracted increasing attention because of its strong anti-interference ability and high resolution. Traditional LiDAR systems rely on discrete components and face the challenges of high cost, large volume, and complex construction. Photonic integration technology can solve these problems and achieve high integration, compact dimension, and low-cost on-chip LiDAR solutions. A solid-state frequency-modulated continuous-wave LiDAR based on a silicon photonic chip is proposed and demonstrated. Two sets of optical phased array antennas are integrated on an optical chip to form a transmitter–receiver interleaved coaxial all-solid-state coherent optical system which provides high power efficiency, in principle, compared with a coaxial optical system using a 2 × 2 beam splitter. The solid-state scanning on the chip is realized by optical phased array without a mechanical structure. A 32-channel transmitter–receiver interleaved coaxial all-solid-state FMCW LiDAR chip design is demonstrated. The measured beam width is 0.4° × 0.8°, and the grating lobe suppression ratio is 6 dB. Preliminary FMCW ranging of multiple targets scanned by OPA was performed. The photonic integrated chip is fabricated on a CMOS-compatible silicon photonics platform, providing a steady path to the commercialization of low-cost on-chip solid-state FMCW LiDAR.