Integrated optic device for laser beam scanning

A device for scanning a laser beam, comprising:

• (a) a silicon or gallium arsenide substrate;
• (b) an electro-optic thin-film sputtered zinc oxide, gallium arsenide, or aluminum gallium arsenide waveguide supported by said substrate suitable for guiding the laser beam, wherein said waveguide exhibits an electro-optic effect and has its optical axis aligned in a predetermined direction with respect to said substrate;
• (c) a Bragg grating electrode array comprising a plurality of grating electrodes above said waveguide and a unitary lower electrode below said waveguide formed by a lower resistivity area in said substrate, wherein said grating electrodes each comprise a plurality of angled fingers, and wherein said grating electrodes can be individually selected and energized to create a periodic change in the refractive index of said waveguide over a small localized region to act on the laser beam to create a spatially-variable diffracted beam;
• and
• (d) a triangular electrode array disposed over the electro-optic layer and in operative contact with said waveguide, wherein said triangle electrodes can be individually selected and energized to change the refractive index of said electro-optic layer over a localized region to create a deflected beam which can be continuously scanned through an annular range dependent on the maximum refractive index change possible.

A device for providing a continuous angular scan of a laser beam over a field of view, comprising:

• (a) a substrate;
• (b) a waveguide supported by said substrate suitable for guiding the laser beam, comprising an electro-optic layer;
• (c) diffracting means in operative contact with said waveguide for selectively intercepting and diffracting the laser beam to a predetermined discrete angle within the field of view by changing the refractive index of said electro-optic layer, wherein a segment is formed within the field of view between the laser beam diffracted at a predetermined discrete angle and the incident laser beam propagation direction, wherein said incident laser beam propagation direction is defined as incident to said diffracting means;
• and
• (d) deflecting means in operative contact with said waveguide and in positional series with said diffracting means for intercepting and deflecting the diffracted beam in a continuous angular manner through said segment.

A method for converting an incident received laser beam into a continuous angular deflected beam, comprising the steps of:

• (a) injecting the laser beam into an electro-optic waveguide;
• (b) diffracting the incident laser beam to a predetermined discrete angle relative to the incident laser beam by individually selecting and energizing a Bragg grating electrode from a plurality of Bragg grating electrodes, wherein the refractive index of a small localized region of said electro-optic waveguide is changed to diffract the laser beam at discrete angles;
• and
• (c) deflecting the diffracted laser beam by changing the refractive index of said electro-optic waveguide over a localized region, by varying a voltage potential supplied to a triangular electrode disposed over said electro-optic layer, to deflect the beam in a continuous angular manner between the predetermined discrete angles.