Simulation research on beam steering technology based on optical phased array

The principle of beam steering technology based on optical phased array (OPA), which is composed of individual phase-modulating units, is introduced. By use of Fraunhofer diffraction and Fourier transformation, the OPA models are established. The influence of main parameters of OPA on beam steering efficiency, including duty ratio (ratio of effective unit size to total unit size), total unit size, unit number, and steering angle, is simulated and analyzed. It shows that beam steering efficiency of OPA is improved with larger duty ratio, smaller total unit size, and smaller steering angle, while the number of units has a very small impact on beam steering efficiency.