Optical beam-steering using a hybrid plasmonic Rotman lens

An integrated optical phased array is proposed to provide optical beam-steering at the standard telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm. To realize the desired phase shift, a hybrid plasmonic Rotman lens is designed. Hybrid plasmonic structures have lower losses and also provide more confinement for light when compared to pure plasmonic structures. Numerical results show that the proposed design provides ±29° beam steering for an 8-element linear array. The proposed structure can be used for applications such as time-domain THz spectroscopy, low-cost integrated LIDAR systems, and optical wireless communication.