Monolithically integrated mid-infrared two-dimensional optical phased array

A mid-IR two-dimensional optical phased array comprising:

• an epitaxial wafer having a substrate;
• a bottom cladding disposed on the substrate;
• and
• an un-doped waveguide layer disposed on the bottom cladding, the epitaxial wafer comprising a lasing region, a passive waveguiding region adjacent to the lasing region, and a taper region between the lasing region and the passive waveguiding region;
• the lasing region comprising:
• a tunable quantum cascade laser disposed on a portion of the un-doped waveguide layer, the tunable quantum cascade laser having an active region sandwiched between an upper cladding and a lower cladding;
• an upper metal contact disposed above the upper cladding;
• and a lower metal contact positioned below the lower cladding, the tunable quantum cascade laser configured to generate mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light from the active region;
• the taper region configured to adiabatically couple the mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light from the active region into the un-doped waveguide layer;
• and
• the passive waveguiding region comprising:
• a splitter region adjacent to the taper region;
• the splitter region having a ridge waveguide configured to receive the mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light from the active region and split the mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light into two or more channels with one or more Y-junctions, the ridge waveguide formed into the un-doped waveguide layer and the bottom cladding and having a ridge waveguide cladding disposed over the ridge waveguide;
• a phase shifting region adjacent to the splitter region;
• the phase shifting region comprising individually controllable heaters disposed over the ridge waveguides of the two or more channels, the individually controllable heaters configured to modify phase of the mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light within each of the ridge waveguides of the two or more channels;
• and
• an emission grating region adjacent to the phase shifting region;
• wherein the ridge waveguides of the two or more channels within the emission grating region comprise exposed emitter gratings etched into the un-doped waveguide layer, the emitter gratings configured to emit the mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light from the ridge waveguides of the two or more channels within the emission grating region;
• wherein the emitted mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light is steerable in elevation by wavelength tuning of the tunable quantum cascade laser, and
• wherein the emitted mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light is steerable in azimuth by controlling of the heaters to modify the phase of the mid-IR electromagnetic radiation light within each of the two or more channels.