Increasing wavelength-controlled steering range of an optical phased array by using two subarrays

We demonstrate an optical phased array that consists of two subarrays based on the silicon on insulator (SOI) platform, each subarray including 16 independent channels. The demonstrated field of view of the optical phased array is 36.6 ∘ × 32.6 ∘ with a spot size of 1.68 ∘ × 0.0673 ∘ . A steering range of 32.6° is achieved by combining two subarrays with different periods and tuning the wavelength from 1500 nm to 1600 nm. In another dimension, the steering is realized by introducing phase differences between channels.