Free space optical (FSO) communications is of great interest as it can result in interference-free, fully secure wireless communication at 100x the speed of current RF networks. However, FSO communications require highly accurate steering of optical beams which is tantamount to switching signals in a network. Since speed is the main performance metric, rapid steering is the critical, yet unmet requirement. I led the experimental efforts towards the demonstration of a fast beam steering device based on a 6-element optical phased array (OPA) driven by electro-optic modulators. A key problem was the dephasing of the OPA caused by noise between the array elements, leading to reduced beam integrity. Consequently, I implemented an optimization feedback loop to dynamically synchronize phases based on a stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. This scheme enabled beam steering speeds at the tens of MHz level. This work opens up applications in deep-space communications and disaster relief.