Abstract: It is an aim of the present invention to provide ultra-compact highly-integrated diffraction-grating semiconductor lasers on chips. Various embodiments combined enable the lasers to be compact in size, light weight, mechanically rugged, low in manufacturing cost, and in some cases high in electrical wall-plugged power efficiency or high in optical power output, comparing to typical lasers based on discrete optical components.

Abstract: Integrated optical intensity or phase modulators capable of very low modulation voltage, broad modulation bandwidth, low optical power loss for device insertion, and very small device size are of interest. Such modulators can be of electro-optic or electro-absorption type made of an appropriate electro-optic or electro-absorption material in particular or referred to as an active material in general. An efficient optical waveguide structure for achieving high overlapping between the optical beam mode and the active electro-active region leads to reduced modulation voltage. In an embodiment, ultra-low modulation voltage, high-frequency response, and very compact device size are enabled by a semiconductor modulator device structure, together with an active semiconductor material that is an electro-optic or electro-absorption material, that are appropriately doped with carriers to substantially lower the modulator voltage and still maintain the high frequency response.

Abstract: The present application discloses a system comprising a compact curved grating (CCG) and its associated compact curved grating spectrometer (CCGS) or compact curved grating wavelength multiplexer/demultiplexer (WMDM) module and a method for making the same. The system is capable of achieving a very small (resolution vs. size) RS factor. The location of the entrance slit and detector can be adjusted in order to have the best performance for a particular design goal. The initial groove spacing is calculated using a prescribed formula dependent on operation wavelength. The location of the grooves is calculated based on two conditions.

Abstract: An apparatus for passive alignment of optical devices comprises a substrate including a trench in a top surface thereof, where the trench has a first end positioned at an edge of the substrate and a second end positioned at an interior region of the substrate, and a lens disposed on the top surface of the substrate adjacent to the second end of the trench. The apparatus further includes a top holder having a longitudinal indentation in a bottom surface thereof for mounting an optical fiber. The longitudinal indentation is sized to fit a top portion of the optical fiber such that a bottom portion of the optical fiber extends below the bottom surface of the top holder when the optical fiber is mounted therein. One or both of the substrate and the top holder include one or more spacer features configured for three-dimensional (3D) alignment of the lens with the optical fiber when the top holder is brought into contact with the substrate.

Abstract: The present application discloses a system comprising a compact curved grating (CCG) and its associated compact curved grating spectrometer (CCGS) or compact curved grating wavelength multiplexer/demultiplexer (WMDM) module and a method for making the same. The system is capable of achieving a very small (resolution vs. size) RS factor. In the invention, the location of the entrance slit and detector can be adjusted in order to have the best performance for a particular design goal. The initial groove spacing is calculated using a prescribed formula dependent on operation wavelength. The location of the grooves is calculated based on two conditions. The first one being that the path-difference between adjacent grooves should be an integral multiple of the wavelength in the medium to achieve aberration-free grating focusing at the detector or output slit (or output waveguide) even with large beam diffraction angle from the entrance slit or input slit (or input waveguide).

Abstract: An electronic-integration compatible photonic integrated circuit (EIC-PIC) for achieving high-performance computing and signal processing is provided. The electronic-integration compatible photonic integrated circuit comprises a plurality of electronic circuit structures and a plurality of photonic circuit structures. The electronic and photonic circuit structures are integrated by a process referred to as monolithic integration. An electronic circuit structure includes one or more electronic devices and a photonic circuit structure includes one or more photonic devices. The integration steps of electronic and photonic devices are further inserted into standard CMOS process. The photonic circuit structures and the electronic circuit structures are integrated to form the electronic-integration compatible photonic integrated circuit device.

Abstract: An optical tip for a Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope (NSOM) is provided. The optical tip includes a waveguide with a semiconductor or metal core and a cladding. The refractive-index-square-ratio contrast between the core and the cladding is at least 0.3. The optical tip may also include a light detector and a light source. The waveguide, the light source and the light detector may be integrated to form a single chip.

Abstract: A wavelength tunable laser which includes a first mirror, a diffraction grating to diffract a laser beam into a plurality of diffracted laser beams, at least one feedback waveguide, at least one second mirror. Each feedback waveguide precedes one of the second mirrors, and a phase detector to detect an error in a wavelength of a received laser beam with respect to a desired wavelength.

Abstract: An integrated signal manipulator for manipulating an optical signal. The optical signal manipulator is integrated on a single material substrate by etching a curved grating mirror. The curved grating mirror decomposes a first optical signal into focused spectral components. These focused spectral components are manipulated by signal-processing elements that are realized on the same material substrate. The manipulated spectral components are then combined by another curved grating mirror, on the same material substrate, to generate a second optical signal.