Optical Phased-Array Steering
Calculate phased-array beam steering from wavelength, element spacing, and adjacent phase shift.
Description
Phased-array steering converts adjacent-element phase difference into a principal beam angle.
Phased-array steering converts adjacent-element phase difference into a principal beam angle. A sine argument outside the physical interval has no returned angle solution.1
Calculate phased-array beam steering from wavelength, element spacing, and adjacent phase shift.
When to use Optical Phased-Array Steering
Use this tool to calculate phased-array beam steering from wavelength, element spacing, and adjacent phase shift.
Prepare the optical measurements, geometry, fitted coefficients or caller-selected thresholds requested. Confirm wavelength, radius/diameter, pulse-width, angle and unit conventions before running the calculation.
How to use Optical Phased-Array Steering and understand its results
- Prepare the optical measurements, geometry, fitted coefficients or caller-selected thresholds requested. Confirm wavelength, radius/diameter, pulse-width, angle and unit conventions before running the calculation.
- Enter wavelengthMeters, elementSpacingMeters, adjacentPhaseShiftRadians using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
- Read steeringAngleDegrees, physicalSolution. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
- If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.
| Input field | Meaning | Value type; see rules below | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| wavelengthMeters | Wavelength (m) | number; minimum: 0 | Required |
| elementSpacingMeters | Element spacing (m) | number; minimum: 0 | Required |
| adjacentPhaseShiftRadians | Adjacent phase shift (rad) | number | Required |
Enter positive wavelength/spacing and finite signed phase shift. Return degrees and true when |argument|≤1, including ±90° boundaries; otherwise return zero angle with false.
argument=λphase/(2πspacing); angle=asin(argument) Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.
| Output field | Meaning | Value type |
|---|---|---|
| steeringAngleDegrees | Steering angle (°) | number |
| physicalSolution | Physical steering solution | boolean |
{
"input": {
"wavelengthMeters": 0.000001,
"elementSpacingMeters": 0.000001,
"adjacentPhaseShiftRadians": 1.5707963267948966
},
"output": {
"steeringAngleDegrees": 14.477512185929923,
"physicalSolution": true
}
}Limitations and assumptions
Zero on failure is a placeholder. Grating lobes, finite aperture, element pattern and hardware phases are not modeled.
Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors. A successfully returned false flag is an evaluated outcome; its meaning is explained above.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Use Grating Steering Angle: Solve the scalar grating equation for diffraction angle. For a complementary task, use Galvo Grid Error: Summarize radial positioning error from a galvo calibration grid.
References
-
Optical Phased-Array Steering — tool.io
Similar or alternative tools
- Grating Steering Angle
Solve the scalar grating equation for diffraction angle.
- Galvo Grid Error
Summarize radial positioning error from a galvo calibration grid.