Carleton University

Purpose

The aim of the Project is to develop photonic components and devices for integrated optical phased arrays. Novel design approaches will be explored to achieve ultra-compact integrated antennas. The antenna designs will be evaluated in terms of key target parameters, including radiation efficiency, directionality, field divergence, and aperture size. The Project will build on existing simulation and design work on silicon waveguide antennas to plan for the fabrication and characterization of the antenna elements. The ultimate goal of the collaborative research is to realize small-size arrays in order to demonstrate their functionality and the compatibility of the antenna designs with high-density integration schemes. System parameters, including control complexity, power, linearity, bandwidth, and side lobe suppression will be evaluated during the design of the arrays. Selected optimized designs will be fabricated for experimental proof-of-concept demonstration.