Investigation of the Angle-Detecting Mechanism of GaN-Based Optical Devices Incorporating Liquid Pendulums

In this letter, we report GaN-based optic device containing the InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells is able to emit and detect light. The angle-detecting mechanism is predicted by ray-trace simulations and verified by experimental measurements. The dynamic responses of the device to tilt angle are investigated by comparing three different liquids as liquid pendulums. The measured results indicate that the device exhibits superior immunity to magnetic interference compared with a commercial MEMS-based angle sensor. The attractive features of the proposed device, such as high compactness, small size, low cost, large linear measuring range, and resistance to magnetic interference, open up new possibilities for extending the wide applications of angle detection based on GaN optical devices.

Automated summary

This study reports a GaN-based optic device containing InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells that can emit and detect light. The angle-detecting mechanism is predicted by ray-trace simulations and verified by experimental measurements. The device's dynamic responses to tilt angle were investigated compared to three different liquids as liquid pendulums. The results show that the device exhibits superior resistance to magnetic interference compared to a commercial MEMS-based angle sensor. The proposed device's attractive features, such as high compactness, small size, low cost, large linear measuring range, and resistance to magnetic interference, open up new possibilities for the wide applications of angle detection based on GaN optical devices.