Beam-steering is an important component in LiDAR and free space optical communication (FSOC) systems.  Large mechanical systems for beam-steering provide good optical performance, but are undesirable for many applications due to their size, cost, and complexity.  Two chip-based beam-steering solutions, optical phased arrays (OPA) and lens-assisted beam steering (LABS), will be discussed.  In an OPA, an array of coherent beams are combined, and the relative phase of the beams is controlled to allow steering of the net beam.  This is common technique in RADAR systems, but only recently has it become feasible in an optical system.  In a LABS system, a lens is used to create a beam, and the direction of the beam depends on the emission (or receiving) location of the light in the focal plane of the lens. 

Dr. Steven Spector is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff and Group Leader at Draper, where he is leading efforts in integrated photonics, imaging and LiDAR.  He received a B.S.E. in Engineering Physics from Lehigh University in 1991, and a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (now, Stony Brook University) in 1997.  Prior to joining Draper, Steve worked at Lincoln Laboratory from 1999 to 2015, where he lead silicon photonics efforts and was also responsible for a number of projects in nanofabrication.  Prior to working at Lincoln Laboratory, Steve was a post-doctoral fellow at Bell Laboratories, developing EUV lithography.