Emitting direction tunable slotted laser array for Lidar applications

In this work, a new type of emitting direction tunable slotted laser array for Lidar applications is proposed. By designing the structure of periodic slots, the laser array can achieve tunable emitting direction in a wide range with low vertical divergence angle. The laser array can be directly used as Lidar emitting chip without complex beam reshaping, coupling or mechanically moving parts, which makes it has the advantages of good stability, system simplification and low cost compared with other Lidars. Experimentally, an 11-channel laser array of C band with periodic slots at the output end is fabricated based on AlGaInAs/InP material system. As the slot period changes from 8μm to 18μm, the inclined angles of emission from 66.6° to 20.25° with all the vertical divergence angles less than 3.5° are obtained, and the minimum vertical divergence angle is even 1.3°. Typical optical power is 13.5 mW under 600 mA continuous injection.