Cascaded electro-optic scanning of laser light over large angles using domain microengineered ferroelectrics

We present a device concept based on cascaded electro-optic deflection in a domain microengineered ferroelectric chip. In our design, large deflection angles are achieved by cascading several smaller scanners in a single ferroelectric chip, such that each successive scanner stage builds upon the deflection of the previous stage. We demonstrate the basic concept using a two-stage device fabricated in a single crystal wafer of ferroelectric LiTaO₃. By operating the device using a specially designed programmable multichannel driver that provides ±1.1kV per stage, a total scan angle of 25.4° at 5 kHz was demonstrated. Even larger angles of deflection are possible with additional scanner stages.