Patents Examined by Joshua King
  • Patent number: 10873175
    Abstract: To improve efficiency, particularly for general illumination applications, a source of green or yellow light includes a solid state device (e.g. a laser diode) to produce an infrared laser beam and a light frequency up-converter to convert the infrared light into green or yellow light. A luminaire includes such a source as well as a source providing two other colors of light, such as red and blue (e.g. not green or yellow). The emitters of the other source may be light emitting diodes or additional laser diodes. The luminaire outputs a combination of the various colors of lights from the sources, for example, to produce white light. If the different emitters are independently controllable, the luminaire may be adjusted or ‘tuned’ to output white light of different color characteristics and/or to output combined light of various colors over a wide region of the visible light color gamut.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: ABL IP HOLDING LLC
    Inventors: David P. Ramer, Guan-Bo Lin
  • Patent number: 10868404
    Abstract: A technology disclosed in the specification of the subject application relates to a laser light source device capable of suppressing loss of optical output power from a semiconductor laser device, and to a method of manufacturing of a laser light source device while the degree of freedom in arrangement of the semiconductor laser device is secured. A laser light source device according to the subject technology includes a semiconductor laser device, and an optical element provided on an optical axis of an emission light emitted from the semiconductor laser device. The optical element separates a portion of a luminous flux of an emission light that is emitted from the semiconductor laser device and that is not separated in a fast axis direction from another portion so as to be separated in the fast axis direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Seiji Nakano, Toshihide Seki
  • Patent number: 10868407
    Abstract: An array of monolithic wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) with spatially varying gain peak and Fabry Perot wavelength is provided. Each VCSEL includes a lower distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), a Fabry Perot tuning/current spreading layer, and a structure comprising a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer sandwiched between a lower separate confinement heterostructure (SCH) layer and an upper SCH layer. The structure is sandwiched between the DBR and the Fabry Perot tuning/current spreading layer. Each MQW experiences a different amount of quantum well intermixing and concomitantly a different wavelength shift. Each VCSEL further includes a top mirror on the Fabry Perot tuning/current spreading layer. A method is also provided for manufacturing the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Sagi Mathai, Michael Renne Ty Tan
  • Patent number: 10862267
    Abstract: A method for controlling the emission frequency of a laser comprises: recording a first spectrum by passing a laser light emitted by the laser through a sample onto a detector, the detector being connected to a multichannel analyzer which assigns pulses detected by the detector to a channel; determining a first channel to which the maximum of a first signal in the first spectrum has been assigned; determining a second channel to which the maximum of a second signal in the first spectrum has been assigned; recording a second spectrum in analog fashion like the first spectrum; determining whether the maximum of the first signal in the second spectrum has been assigned to the first channel and whether the maximum of the second signal in the second spectrum has been assigned to the second channel; adjusting the operating temperature of the laser in the event of deviations determined in the previous step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: HUMEDICS GMBH
    Inventors: Axel Luchterhand, Alexander Helmke, Tom Rubin, Karsten Heyne
  • Patent number: 10862275
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a first pair of nitride semiconductor regions, and a current confinement region which includes a first portion, a second portion disposed on a side of the first portion, and a third portion disposed on another side of the first portion. A width of the second portion is larger than a width of the first portion, the width of the second portion is larger than a width between the first pair of nitride semiconductor regions, and both ends of the second portion are covered by the first pair of nitride semiconductor regions, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kazuo Fukagai
  • Patent number: 10855047
    Abstract: Systems and methods for employing an electro-optic and photoconductive optical element operating in combination with a polarizer and 100% reflective mirrors to passively control dumping of power from a resonator. The optical element may be constructed of electro-optic material (e.g., Bismuth Silicon Oxide (BSO), Bismuth Germanium Oxide (BGO)), the refractive index of which may be altered by the application of an externally applied electric field. The presence of incident light changes the photoconductivity of the optical element and, therefore, also changes the polarization state of the light passing through the optical element. When combined with a conventional polarizer, the device acts as a self-triggering optical valve to suddenly divert the path of light within a laser to outside of the normal resonator path. Optical power that has been stored inside the laser resonator is then dumped out of the laser in a single, very-high power pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventor: Gary Cook
  • Patent number: 10855054
    Abstract: A semiconductor laser device includes a semiconductor substrate, a resonator unit formed on the semiconductor substrate and having an active layer, a diffraction grating formed on or underneath the active layer, a front facet of an inverted mesa slope, and a rear facet, an anti-reflection coating film formed on the front facet, a reflective film formed on the rear facet, an upper electrode formed on the resonator unit, and a lower electrode formed underneath the semiconductor substrate, wherein a length in a resonator direction of the resonator unit is shorter than a length in the resonator direction of the semiconductor substrate, and a laser beam is emitted from the front facet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Ayumi Fuchida, Yuichiro Okunuki, Go Sakaino, Tetsuya Uetsuji, Naoki Nakamura
  • Patent number: 10840669
    Abstract: Radiation field amplifier system for a radiation field comprising an amplifying unit and a heat dissipation system with one heat spreading element or several heat spreading elements, said one heat spreading element or at least one of said several heat spreading elements of said heat dissipation system is pressed with a contact surface within a contact area against said amplifying unit and said contact surface rises starting from a geometrical reference plane in direction towards said amplifying unit and a distance d between said contact surface and said geometrical reference plane attains its largest value within a central area, which is arranged inside said contact area and said distance d is smaller outside said central area than inside said central area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Universitaet Stuttgart
    Inventors: Jan-Hinnerk Wolter, Andreas Voss
  • Patent number: 10840672
    Abstract: A mode-locked semiconductor laser capable of changing the spacing between the carrier frequencies of its output comb. In an example embodiment, the mode-locked semiconductor laser is implemented as a hybrid solid-state device comprising a III-V semiconductor chip and a silicon chip attached to one another to form a laser cavity. The III-V semiconductor chip includes a gain medium configured to generate light in response to being electrically and/or optically pumped. The silicon chip includes a plurality of optical waveguides arranged to provide multiple optical paths of different effective lengths for the light generated in the laser cavity. Different optical paths can be controllably selected, using one or more optical switches connected between the optical waveguides, to change the effective optical length of the laser cavity and, as a result, the output-comb frequency spacing. In some embodiments, the output-comb frequency spacing can be changeable at least by a factor of 1.5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks OY
    Inventors: Guilhem de Valicourt, Michael S. Eggleston
  • Patent number: 10833474
    Abstract: Laser diode submounts include a SiC substrate on which a thick conductive layer is supplied to use in mounting a laser diode. The thick conductive layer is typically gold or copper, and can be electrically coupled to a base laser that is used to define laser diode couplings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: nLIGHT, Inc.
    Inventors: Manoj Kanskar, Zhigang Chen
  • Patent number: 10833476
    Abstract: A surface-mountable semiconductor laser and an arrangement with such a semiconductor laser are disclosed. In one embodiment, the semiconductor laser is includes a semiconductor layer sequence having at least one generation region between a p-side and an n-side, at least two contact surfaces for external electrical contacting of the p-side and the n-side, wherein the contact surfaces are located on the same side of the semiconductor layer sequence in a common plane so that the semiconductor laser are contactable without bonding wires, at least one of a plurality of conductor rails extending from a side with the contact surfaces across the semiconductor layer sequence and a plurality of through-connections running at least through the generation region, wherein the generation region is configured to be pulse operated with time-wise current densities of at least 30 A/mm2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: OSRAM OLED GMBH
    Inventors: Martin Müller, Hubert Halbritter
  • Patent number: 10826270
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein to thermally regulate laser diodes. During operation, the structure of a laser diode may generate heat, which will affect the stability and accuracy of the output wavelength of the laser diode. During an OFF stage, the structure of the laser diode will then lose heat, creating a thermal gradient as the laser diode is switched between operation and an OFF state. The systems and methods provide constant average heat and a stable thermal gradient by integrating a laser diode power-coupled supply and a heater onto a heatspreader, such that the output wavelength of a coupled laser diode may be stabilized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, Inc.
    Inventors: Derek Treese, Nicolas Koslowski, Michael Legge, Wolfgang Zeller
  • Patent number: 10826272
    Abstract: An optical source may include an optical gain chip that provides an optical signal and that is optically coupled to an SOI chip. The optical gain chip may include a reflective layer. Moreover, the SOI chip may include: a first optical waveguide, a first ring resonator that selectively optically coupled to a second optical waveguide and that performs phase modulation and filtering of the optical signal, the second optical waveguide, an amplitude modulator, and an output port. Note that the reflective layer in the optical gain chip and the amplitude modulator may define an optical cavity. Furthermore, a resonance of the first ring resonator may be aligned with a lasing wavelength, and the resonance of the first ring resonator and a resonance of the amplitude modulator may be offset from each other. Additionally, modulation of the first ring resonator and the amplitude modulator may be in-phase with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Axalume, Inc.
    Inventors: Jock Bovington, Xuezhe Zheng, Saman Saeedi, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy
  • Patent number: 10818587
    Abstract: A semiconductor device has a semiconductor die containing a base material having a first surface and a second surface with an image sensor area. A masking layer with varying width openings is disposed over the first surface of the base material. The openings in the masking layer are larger in a center region of the semiconductor die and smaller toward edges of the semiconductor die. A portion of the first surface of the base material is removed by plasma etching to form a first curved surface. A metal layer is formed over the first curved surface of the base material. The semiconductor die is positioned over a substrate with the first curved surface oriented toward the substrate. Pressure and temperature is applied to assert movement of the base material to change orientation of the second surface with the image sensor area into a second curved surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Michael J. Seddon, Francis J. Carney, Eric Woolsey
  • Patent number: 10811840
    Abstract: A laser module that can suppress influence due to a reflected light between chips is provided. A laser module 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: a laser element 110 provided on a first substrate and having a laser oscillation unit that generates a laser light and a first optical waveguide that guides the laser light; and an optical amplifier 120 provided on a second substrate and having a second waveguide that guides the laser light. The first optical waveguide is nonparallel relative to an end face of the first substrate and connected thereto, the second optical waveguide is nonparallel relative to an end face of the second substrate and connected thereto, and the first substrate and the second substrate are arranged such that the laser light output from the first optical waveguide is optically coupled to the second optical waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Maiko Ariga, Yusuke Inaba, Kazuaki Kiyota, Toshihito Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10804678
    Abstract: An example method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. A first wafer may be provided that includes a first layer that contains quantum dots. A second wafer may be provided that includes a buried dielectric layer and a second layer on the buried dielectric layer. An interface layer may be formed on at least one of the first layer and the second layer, where the interface layer may be an insulator, a transparent electrical conductor, or a polymer. The first wafer may be bonded to the second wafer by way of the interface layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Di Liang, Geza Kurczveil, Raymond G. Beausoleil, Marco Fiorentino
  • Patent number: 10763643
    Abstract: An electrically-operated semiconductor laser device and method for forming the laser device are provided. The laser device includes a fin structure to which a waveguide is optically coupled. The waveguide is optically coupled to passive waveguides at either end thereof. The fin structure includes an array of fin elements, each fin element comprising Group III-V materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignees: IMEC VZW, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, KU LEUVEN R& D, Universiteit Gent
    Inventors: Joris Van Campenhout, Clement Merckling, Maria Ioanna Pantouvaki, Ashwyn Srinivasan, Irina Kulkova
  • Patent number: 10749605
    Abstract: A system for transmitting a sequence of at least two data bursts in a fibre optical communications system includes: selection circuitry configured to select one of a data input value, a logical high value or a logical low value such that the selection circuitry selects the data input value during a data transmission period during a defined burst period and selects one of the logical high value and the logical low value during an extension time period during the defined burst period and immediately following the data transmission period, such that for the sequence of at least two bursts, at least one burst has a logical low value extension period and at least one burst has a logical high value extension period; drive circuitry configured to apply a current to a laser diode, the current corresponding to the value selected by the selection circuitry during the defined burst period or a zero value otherwise, the current being such that the laser diode is configured to provide an optical output; an optical sensor
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: HiLight Semiconductor Limited
    Inventors: William Redman-White, Dominique Coue, Colin Whitfield
  • Patent number: 10741995
    Abstract: The invention relates to the production of an optical or optoelectronic assembly (1, 2) comprising an active component (5) and a cooler (3). The cooler (3) is produced by means of a 3D printing method on a composite plate (6).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: JENOPTIK Optical Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Juergen Wolf, Annelies Hirsch
  • Patent number: 10741989
    Abstract: A pumped optical ring laser sensor such as a gyroscope includes a pulsed laser source to generate optical pump pulses and a synchronously pumped ring laser. The ring laser is optically pumped by first optical pump pulses from the pulsed laser source that are directed in a clock-wise (CW) direction through the ring laser and by second optical pump pulses from the pulsed laser source that are directed in a counter-clock wise (CCW) direction through the ring laser. The ring laser has an optical resonator that includes a gain medium for producing CW and CCW frequency-shifted pulses from the first and second optical pump pulses. The ring laser further includes a port for receiving the first and second pump pulses and for extracting the CW and CCW frequency-shifted pulses from the ring laser such that the frequency-shifted pulses overlap in time after being extracted to generate a beatnote.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
    Inventor: Khanh Kieu