Nanophotonic waveguide chip-to-free-space beam scanning at 68M Spots/s·mm²

A seamless chip-to-world photonic interface enables wide-ranging advancements in optical ranging, display, communication, computation, imaging, and light-matter interaction. An optimal solution allows for 2D scanning of a diffraction-limited beam from anywhere on a photonic chip over a large number of beam-spots in free-space. Currently, devices with direct PIC integration rely on tiled apertures with poor mode qualities, large footprints, and complex control systems. Micro-mechanical beam scanners have good beam quality but lack direct PIC integration and are inertially-limited due to the use of bulk optical components or structures in which the optical aperture and actuator sizes are inextricably linked, resulting in trade-offs among resolution, speed, and footprint. Here, we overcome these limitations with the photonic "ski-jump": a nanoscale optical waveguide monolithically integrated atop a piezoelectrically actuated cantilever which passively curls ~90° out-of-plane in a footprint of <0.1 mm ² , emits sub-micron diffraction-limited optical modes, and exhibits kHz-rate mechanical resonances with quality factors exceeding 10,000. This enables two-dimensional beam-scanning with footprint-adjusted spot-rates of 68.6 mega-spots/s-mm ² at CMOS-level voltages, which is equivalent to a 1 megapixel display at 100 Hz from a 1.5 mm ² footprint, and exceeds the performance of state-of-the-art MEMS mirrors by >50⨉. Using this device, we demonstrate image projection, video projection, and the initialization and readout of single photons from silicon vacancy centers in diamond waveguides. Based on current performance, we identify pathways for achieving >1 giga-spots at kHz-rates in a ~1 cm ² area to provide a seamless, scalable optical pipeline between integrated photonic processors and the free-space world.