Hideaki OKAYAMA^1,2,*

¹Research and Development Department, Optical Components Company, Oki Electric Industry Company, Limited, 550-1 Higashiasakawa, Hachioji, Tokyo 193-8550, Japan
²Advanced Research Institute of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan

(Received December 2, 2002; Accepted May 6, 2003)

The arrayed-waveguide deflector for 3-D light beam steering is described. The proposed structure with a 2-D waveguide is suitable for using the electrooptic effect. The device can also generate a light beam with phase singularity. Its usage is expected to find many applications including measurement and information processing. When the device is used to implement an N channel large-scale optical switch, only a 3N^1/2 waveguide array is required for a phaser. Fast beam steering will lead to new field of applications impossible with conventional devices.

Key words: deflector, waveguide array, Bessel beam

^*E-mail address: okayamaB@hotmail.com