Modular optical phased array

A phased array comprising at least first and second phased array sub-blocks, each phased array sub-block comprising M×N photonic chips, each chip comprising a two-dimensional array of transmitters disposed along a first plurality of rows and columns, and a two-dimensional array of receivers disposed along a second plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between the transmitter arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips in each phased array sub-block is defined by a first value and wherein a distance between the receiver arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips in each phased array sub-block is defined by a second value, wherein the first and second values are co-prime numbers, and wherein at least one of M or N is an integer greater than one.

A phased array comprising:

• a first M transceivers disposed along a first plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between each pair of adjacent transceivers of the first M transceivers is defined by a first value;
• a second N transceiver arrays disposed along a second plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between each pair of adjacent transceivers of the second N transceivers is defined by a second value, wherein the first and second values are co-prime numbers, and wherein the first M transceivers and the second N transceivers include at least one common transceiver, and wherein at least one of M or N is an integer greater than one.

A method of forming a phased array, the method comprising:

• forming a first array of photonic chips each comprising a two-dimensional array of transmitters disposed along a first plurality of rows and columns and a two-dimensional array of receivers disposed along a second plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between the transmitter arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips is defined by a first value and wherein a distance between the receiver arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips is defined by a second value, wherein the first and second values are co-prime numbers.

A method of forming a phased array, the method comprising:

• forming a first two-dimensional array of photonic chips each comprising a two-dimensional array of transmitters disposed along a first plurality of rows and columns, and a two-dimensional array of receivers disposed along a second plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between the transmitter arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips in the first array is defined by a first value and wherein a distance between the receiver arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips in the first array is defined by a second value, wherein the first and second values are co-prime numbers;
• and
• forming a second two-dimensional array of photonic chips each comprising a two-dimensional array of transmitters disposed along the first plurality of rows and columns, and a two-dimensional array of receivers disposed along the second plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between the transmitter arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips across the first or second array is defined by the first value and wherein a distance between the receiver arrays of each pair of adjacent photonics chips across the first and second array is defined by the second value.

A method of forming a phased array the method comprising:

• disposing a first M transceivers along a first plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between each pair of adjacent transceivers of the first M transceivers is defined by a first value;
• disposing a second N transceiver arrays along a second plurality of rows and columns, wherein a distance between each pair of adjacent transceivers of the second N transceivers is defined by a second value, wherein the first and second values are co-prime numbers, and wherein the first M transceivers and the second N transceivers include at least one common transceiver, and wherein at least one of M or N is an integer greater than one.