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September 10, 2025Open Access

On-Chip OPA: Progress and Prospects in Liquid Crystal, Lithium Niobate, and Silicon Material Platforms

XWXiaobin WangNational University of Defense Technology JGJunliang GuoTianjin University ZYZixin YangShanghai University of Finance and Economics

Key Points

Liquid crystal OPAs achieve low-voltage operation via electrically tunable refractive indices, enhancing practicality.
Lithium niobate OPAs demonstrate high-speed performance and low power consumption due to superior electro-optic coefficients.
Silicon-based OPAs leverage mature photonic integration to deliver high integration density and enable GHz-range beam steering.
The study outlines performance benchmarks and future prospects, addressing key outstanding challenges in OPA technology.

Abstract

Non-mechanical beam steering is required for holographic displays, free-space optical communication, and chip-scale LiDAR. Optical phased arrays (OPAs), which allow for inertia-free, high-speed beam control via electronic phase control, are an important research topic. The present study investigates the primary material platform for on-chip OPAs: Liquid crystal OPAs (LC-OPAs) employ electrically tunable refractive indices for low-voltage operation; lithium niobate OPAs (LN-OPAs) utilize high electro-optic coefficients for high-speed, low-power consumption, and large-bandwidth operation; and silicon-based OPAs (Si-OPAs) apply mature photonic integration to achieve high integration density and GHz-range steering. The paper thoroughly examines OPA basics, recent material-specific advancements, performance benchmarks, outstanding issues, and future prospects.

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