Conventional beam steerers are based on mechanical movements. They are bulky and not reliable for long-term use. Integrated photonics enables solid-state beam steerers with compact sizes and no moving parts. These beam steerers can be mass-produced in foundries at a low cost and are considered the enabling technology for next-generation light detection and ranging (LiDAR). In our group, we work on various beam-steering technologies, including optical phased array (OPA), focal plane array (FPA), and dispersive gratings. We apply these technologies to LiDARs and free-space optical communications (FSO). We also use these technologies to realize chip-scale laser scanning microscopes, in which we can actively form a scannable focused spot. Our technology enables shrinking a bulky optical system such as a LiDAR or a microscope to a small chip of only a fingertip size.

 

Relevant Publications

  1. C. Y. Hsu, P. Y. Hsieh, H. S. Chiu, L. J. Tung, C. C. Yu, K. C. Chen, Y. H. Hong, H. C. Kuo, C. W. Chow, and Y. C. Chang, “Silicon Photonic Beam Steerer Based on Metalens Focal Plane Array,” Nanophotonics 15, e70274 (2026).
  2. C. Y. Hsu, H. S. Chiu, L. J. Tung, P. Y. Hsieh, Y. H. Hong, H. C. Kuo, and Y. C. Chang, “Silicon photonic beam steering for LiDAR based on metalens focal plane array,” in CLEO, JTU.54 (2026). 
  3. C. C. Yu, H. H. Lin, C. Y. Hsu, and Y. C. Chang, “Three-dimensional focused beam scanner based on silicon photonic optical phased array,” in CLEO, STH2D.6 (2026). 
  4. J. W. Wang, H. H. Lin, S. I. Kuo, Z. Ahmad, P. Y. Hsieh, C. Y. Hsu, J. W. Shi, and Y. C. Chang, “Chip-scale Confocal Laser-scanning Microscope Based on Optical Phased Array,” Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim (CLEO-PR), Th1D-2 (2024).
  5. P. Y. Hsieh, and Y. C. Chang, “Silicon Photonic Beam Steerer Based on Metalens Focal Plane Array with Direction Fine-tuning,” Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), SW4O.5 (2024).
  6. C. W. Chow*, Y. C. Chang*, S. I. Kuo, P. C. Kuo, J. W. Wang, Y. H. Jian, Z. Ahmad, P. H. Fu, J. W. Shi, D. W. Huang, T. Y. Hung, Y. Z. Lin, C. H. Yeh, and Y. Liu, “Actively Controllable Beam Steering Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) Using Integrated Optical Phased Array (OPA),” Journal of Lightwave Technology 41, 1122-1128 (2023). OFC top-scored paper
  7. Sheng-I Kuo, Ju-Wei Wang, Zohauddin Ahmad, Po-Han Fu, Hsin-Hung Lin, Jin-Wei Shi, Ding-Wei Huang, and You-Chia Chang, “Reconfigurable scan lens based on an actively controlled optical phased array,” Opt. Lett. 47, 3676-3679 (2022). *Highlighted as an Editor’s Pick