Beam steering in GaInAs/GaAs slow-light Bragg reflector waveguide amplifier

A high-resolution beam steering technique was proposed with a slow-light Bragg reflector waveguide amplifier. By tuning the wavelength of the propagating slow-light mode, a giant change in a deflection angle is predicted and high-resolution beam steering is prospective. In this paper, the first experimental demonstration of the beam steering technique is presented. We demonstrated a continuous beam steering of over 30 degrees. The deflection angles are in good agreement with simulation results. By injecting larger current, the effective radiation window length is increased and sharp divergence angle is obtained, exhibiting a potential in getting a large number of resolution points. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3664118]