Optical Scanner with High Speed and High Resolution

The optical beam scanners developed under this program will have linear resolution of up to 1000 angles with access times as low as 10 nanoseconds. Besides contributing to existing systems in optical memory access, optical signal processing, and optical switching, the unprecedented speed at such high resolutions will open up further applications previously unaccessible like real-time 3D virtual displays. The scanners use an integrated optoelectronic technology platform intended for digital applications, the AT&T FET-SEED, which is now available as a foundry service. The innovation of the proposed program is using the FET-SEED technology in high speed and high-voltage programmable amplitude grating for beamsteering. To prove the feasibility of the device structure, we will test an existing simulate the scanner optical system, and design and simulate a FET-SEED actual beamscanner. At the end of the program we will have the complete specifications for the prototype beamscanner that will be fabricated in Phase II. For the design and simulation tasks we will use both commercial and public domain tools.