Thermal Management of Silicon-Based Photonic Optical Phased Arrays

The functionality of silicon-based photonic optical phased arrays (OPAs) depends strongly on temperature. Therefore, their thermal management requires not only efficient heat dissipation but also reduction of on-chip temperature gradients and precise temperature stabilization. The thermal stability requirements needed to guarantee the correct functionality of OPA systems, depend on the system's implementation and its performance specifications.

To allow for a system-independent statement of the thermal stability requirements, a precise understanding of the influence of different thermal loads, such as temperature gradients, temperature fluctuations, and temperature offsets, on the functionallity of the OPA system is required.

In this work, first investigations of the influence of these thermal loads on the response of OPAs are presented. Based on the results of these investigations, a general set of thermal stability requirements is derived, and different solutions for thermal management of OPA systems are proposed and evaluated. It is demonstrated that applying the proposed solutions reduces the influence of thermal loads on the functionality of the OPA system, guaranteeing its proper operation.

Finally, a method for active compensation of thermally induced distortions in the OPAsystems is also proposed and demonstrated using a prototype system.