An optical steering method and apparatus. In one aspect of the present invention,
the disclosed apparatus includes a multi-mode interference (MMI) device disposed
in a semiconductor substrate. The MMI device includes an input and a plurality
of outputs. Each one of the plurality of outputs of the MMI device is optically
coupled to the input of the MMI device. A phase array is disposed in the semiconductor
substrate. The phase array includes a plurality of inputs and a plurality of outputs.
The plurality of inputs of the phase array optically are coupled to the plurality
of outputs of the phase array. The phase array is coupled to control relative phase
differences between optical beams output by each one of the plurality of outputs
of the phase array.
