To meet the requirements of non-mechanical beam scanning and acquisition in space laser communication, this study proposes a two-dimensional scanning and acquisition method based on a silicon-based optical phased array (OPA). The OPA utilizes thermo-optic phase modulation to achieve horizontal beam pointing, while vertical beam pointing is controlled by wavelength tuning. By combining the OPA with a rectangular spiral scanning strategy, non-mechanical scanning is realized and beam acquisition experiments are carried out. Experimental results demonstrate that for an 8° step signal, the horizontal and vertical rise times are 156.8 μs and 214.76 ms, respectively. A full scan of 440 points covering a ±4° field of view is completed in 8.119 s. Acquisition experiments were conducted assuming a Gaussian-distributed uncertainty region (standard deviation σ=1°). Out of 106 independent trials, a success rate of 97.17% was achieved with an average acquisition time of 0.41 s. This work experimentally applies a rectangular spiral scanning strategy to an OPA-based acquisition system, addressing a capability that has been largely missing in previous studies. These results verify that the OPA technology has good scanning efficiency and acquisition robustness in space laser communication applications.
Gu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.