Polarization Sensitivity of Silicon Integrated Optical Antenna for Laser Communication on Small Satellite

An integrated optical antenna is proposed for laser communication on the small satellite in which there are not enough internal space for large laser communication system. The proposed optical antenna is designed on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip with two different grating couplers to receive and transmit the TE and TM modes respectively. The polarization angle of the incident light can be precisely measured by this optical antenna. The factors which cause the polarization angle errors are analyzed in detail. It is demonstrated that the measurement error for the polarization angle is less than 0.001° when the incident angle error is less than 0.008°. The optical antenna is sensitive to polarization angle and convenient to be installed on the surface of the carrier, providing a new approach for laser communication on the small satellite.