Watt-class Optical Beam Steering on Silicon Photonics

Silicon photonics based optical phased array (OPA) offers revolutionary optical beam steering capabilities, but its low output power limits its applications. In this Villum Experiment project, we aim to overcome the power limitation by integrating on-chip optical amplifiers into an OPA, pushing the emitted power into Watt-class regime—a 10–100x improvement over conventional silicon photonics. By co-integrating silicon, silicon nitride, and an erbium-doped aluminum oxide cladding, our innovative approach tackles silicon's intrinsic power-handling challenges. If successful, this compact, high-power OPA will enable long-range LiDAR systems, robust free-space optical communication, and precise deep-tissue bioimaging, establishing a new paradigm for high-power optical beam steering.