INTEGRATED OPTIC DEVICE FOR LASER BEAM SCANNING

MOST LASER SCANNING SYSTEMS ARE MECHANICAL, UTILIZING A MOTOR TO ROTATE A PRISM, MIRROR, OR HOLOGRAPHIC GRATING. SUCH MECHANICAL SYSTEMS ARE OR RELATIVELY LARGE SIZE AND MASS. THERE IS A NEED FOR A SOLID STATE SCANNING DEVICE WHICH WOULD OFFER BENEFITS OF REDUCED SIZE AND MASS, NO MOVING PARTS, IMPROVED RELIABILITY, LOW COSTS, AND LOW POWERREQUIREMENT. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED OPTICS (IO) STRUCTURE FOR SCANNING A LASER BEAM. THE IO DEVICE UTILIZES THE ELECTRO-OPTIC EFFECT OF A THIN FILM MATERIAL TOESTABLISH A BRAGG DIFFRACTION GRATING IN A PLANAR WAVEGUIDE. THE BRAGG GRATING CAN BE ACTIVATED OVER SMALL LOCALIZED REGIONS, AND BY VARYING THE LOCATION OF THE ACTIVATED REGION, THE SPATIAL LOCATION OF THE DIFFRACTED BEAM CAN BE VARIED. A LENS CHANGES THE SPATIAL VARIATION INBEAM POSITION TO AN ANGULAR VARIATION IN BEAM POSITION. THEOBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I EFFORT IS TO CHARACTERIZE THE DIFFRACTION EFFICIENCY OF AN ELECTRO-OPTIC INDUCED DIFFRACTION GRATING IN A PLANAR WAVEGUIDE AS A FUNCTION OF WAVEGUIDE THICKNESS, APPLIED VOLTAGE, AND LENGTH AND ORIENTATION OF THE GRATING. THIS DATA WILL BE ANALYSED TO SPECIFY THE RESOLUTION AND ANGULAR SCAN RANGE OF THE PROPOSED SOLID STATE LASER SCANNER.