DOE OSTI · 3376371
Nanophotonic waveguide chip-to-world beam scanning
Abstract
A seamless chip-to-world photonic interface enables broad advancements in optical ranging, display, communication, computation and quantum information science. The ideal solution enables two-dimensional scanning of a diffraction-limited beam from anywhere on a photonic integrated circuit to a large number of resolvable spots. Current beam-scanning technologies are limited by a fundamental trade-off: photonic-integrated-circuits with diffractive optics offer scalability but have poor mode quality, whereas inertially limited micromechanical scanners provide high-quality beams but lack scalable integration. Here we report a photonic ski-jump—a nanoscale waveguide monolithically integrated on a piezoelectric cantilever—to overcome these limitations. It passively curls ~90° out-of-plane within a less-than-0.1 mm 2 footprint, emits a submicrometre, broadband diffraction-limited beam, and exhibits kilohertz-rate mechanical resonances with quality factors of over 10,000. Fabricated in a volume complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) foundry, our device enables scalable two-dimensional beam scanning. Driven on-resonance at CMOS-level voltages, it achieves a footprint-adjusted spot rate of 68.6 mega spots s –1 mm–², exceeding state-of-the-art micro-electro-mechanical systems mirrors by more than 50-fold, which is sufficient for one million pixels at 100 Hz from an approximately 1.5 mm diameter footprint. We demonstrate full-colour image and video projection, and single-photon initialization and readout from silicon vacancy centres in diamond. Finally, by demonstrating uniformity across a 64 ski-jump array, we establish a pathway to achieving greater than one gigaspot resolution at kilohertz rates within a sub-5-cm-diameter footprint, creating a seamless optical pipeline between integrated photonic processors and the free-space world.
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Saha, Matt [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000042036536), Wen, Y. Henry [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000685423628), Greenspon, Andrew S. [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000296317568), Zimmermann, Matthew [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000866006620), Palm, Kevin J. [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000340664584), Witte, Alex [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States)], Goh, Yin Min [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000336928372), Li, Chao [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000276502301), Bumstead, Jonathan [The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA (United States)], Schädler, Kevin [Axiomatic_AI, Cambridge, MA (United States)], Fortin, Ryan [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000064577608), Dong, Mark [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:000000028577451X), Leenheer, Andrew J. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:000000034735292X), Clark, Genevieve [The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA (United States); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States)], Gilbert, Gerald [The MITRE Corporation, Princeton, NJ (United States)], Eichenfield, Matt [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000308637877), Englund, Dirk [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (United States); Axiomatic_AI, Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000210433489). 2026-03-11. Nanophotonic waveguide chip-to-world beam scanning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-10038-6
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