Method, system, and apparatus for a LiDAR sensor with a large grating

An optical apparatus comprising:

• a surface emitting grating;
• a free-propagation region optically coupled to the surface emitting grating;
• and
• waveguides optically coupled to the free-propagation region;
• wherein each of the waveguides is disposed at different angles to each other waveguide;
• wherein each waveguide of the waveguides is disposed at a different angle to and within a same plane as the surface emitting grating;
• wherein the surface emitting grating is curved;
• wherein the proximate center of the curvature of the grating is proximate to the inputs to the waveguides;
• and wherein the surface emitting grating is enabled to be illuminated through the free-propagation region by using a cross connect to selectively cycling through illumination of each waveguide of the waveguides;
• wherein when light when light is launched through each respective waveguide connected to free propagation region, the light from each respective waveguide travels to exit the surface emitting grating at a different angle.