Multichannel ±1.16 kV arbitrary waveform generator for driving multistage ferroelectric laser-beam-deflector

Abstract

Ferroelectric laser-beam-deflector has become one of the favorite devices for laser beam steering because of its ability to steer a laser beam without moving parts, its relatively high frequency of operation, and its large deflection angle. Furthermore, using multiple stages of ferroelectric beam deflector, the maximum deflection angle can be increased dramatically. However, these attractive features come with the cost of high drive-voltage requirement. Additionally, a multistage beam deflector requires a multichannel driver with output channel synchronization capability. This thesis presents the first arbitrary waveform generator designed to fulfill all of these drive requirements. The main feature of this waveform generator is its five synchronizable output channels, each capable of producing an arbitrary signal with a voltage of up to ±1.16 kV, a maximum drive current of 10 mA, at a frequency of up to 10 kHz, with 16-bit resolution. The design is implemented using a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), making it highly reconfigurable and flexible to adapt to different types of application. This waveform generator has been successfully demonstrated to drive a two-stage ferroelectric beam deflector, producing a deflection angle of ±12:7° -- a total of 25:4°. Deflection angle this large is unprecedented for electro-optic scanning. A much larger deflection angle is still possible by utilizing all of the five output channels to drive a five-stage ferroelectric beam deflector.