Abstract: A first photonic die has a first coupling edge and a first die surface, and comprises: a first waveguide extending in proximity to the first coupling edge; a portion of the first die surface forming an alignment edge substantially parallel to the first waveguide; and a first alignment feature etched into or formed adjacent to the first coupling edge. A second photonic die has a second coupling edge and a second die surface, and comprises: a second waveguide extending in proximity to the second coupling edge; a portion of the second die surface configured to form a receptacle sized to constrain a position of the alignment edge; and a second alignment feature etched into or formed adjacent to the second coupling edge and configured to enable alignment with the first alignment feature when the first photonic die and the second photonic die are substantially aligned with each other.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe large scale steerable optical switched arrays that may be fabricated on a common substrate including many thousands or more emitters that may be arranged in a curved pattern at the focal plane of a lens thereby allowing the directional control of emitted light and selective reception of reflected light suitable for use in imaging, ranging, and sensing applications including accident avoidance.

Abstract: Optical communication with a remote node comprises: transmitting at least one optical beam to the remote node; receiving at least a portion of at least one optical beam from the remote node; providing intensity information based on one or more signals from one or more optical detector modules in an array of optical detector modules detecting the portion of the optical beam received from the remote node; and controlling at least one optical phased array to steer the optical beam transmitted to the remote node based on intensity information received from the remote node.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe large scale steerable optical switched arrays that may be fabricated on a common substrate including many thousands or more emitters that may be arranged in a curved pattern at the focal plane of a lens thereby allowing the directional control of emitted light and selective reception of reflected light suitable for use in imaging, ranging, and sensing applications including accident avoidance.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe systems, methods, and structures for aberration correction of optical phased arrays that employ a corrective optical path difference (OPD) in the near-field of an OPA to correct or cancel out aberrations in emitted beams of the OPA including those reaching far-field distances by generating a spatially-varying OPD across the aperture of the OPA that is substantially equal and opposite to an equivalent OPD of the aberration(s).

Abstract: Optical communication with a remote node comprises: transmitting at least one optical beam to the remote node; receiving at least a portion of at least one optical beam from the remote node; providing intensity information based on one or more signals from one or more optical detector modules in an array of optical detector modules detecting the portion of the optical beam received from the remote node; and controlling at least one optical phased array to steer the optical beam transmitted to the remote node based on intensity information received from the remote node.

Abstract: An optical switching apparatus comprises: input ports receiving respective input optical waves, each coupled to a respective beam-forming structure comprising: an input optical waveguide, an optical power distributor to distribute optical power from a mode of the optical waveguide over the respective spatial region, and a spatially distributed phase shifter to apply different transmission optical phase shifts over different portions of the respective spatial region, where the transmission optical phase shifts determine the selected transmission angle; and output ports providing respective output optical waves, each coupled to a respective beam-receiving structure comprising: a spatially distributed phase shifter to apply different reception optical phase shifts over different portions of the respective spatial region, where the reception optical phase shifts determine the selected reception angle, an optical power combiner to combine optical power from different portions of the respective spatial region into

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe large scale steerable optical switched arrays that may be fabricated on a common substrate including many thousands or more emitters that may be arranged in a curved pattern at the focal plane of a lens thereby allowing the directional control of emitted light and selective reception of reflected light suitable for use in imaging, ranging, and sensing applications including accident avoidance.

Abstract: A plurality of waveguide structures are formed in at least one silicon layer of a first member. The first member includes: a first surface of a first silicon dioxide layer that is attached to a second member that consists essentially of an optically transmissive material having a thermal conductivity less than about 50 W/(m·K), and a second surface of material that was deposited over at least some of the plurality of waveguide structures. An array of phase shifters is formed in one or more layers of the first member. An array of temperature controlling elements are in proximity to the array of phase shifters.

Abstract: An optical phase shifter may include a waveguide core that has a top surface, and a semiconductor contact that is laterally displaced relative to the waveguide core and is electrically connected to the waveguide core. A top surface of the semiconductor contact is above the top surface of the waveguide core. The waveguide core may include a p-type core region and an n-type core region. A p-type semiconductor region may be in physical contact with the n-type core region of the waveguide core, and an n-type semiconductor region may be in physical contact with the p-type core region of the waveguide core. A phase shifter region and a light-emitting region may be disposed at different depth levels, and the light-emitting region may emit light from a phase shifter region that is in a position adjacent to the light-emitting region.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe systems, methods, and structures providing speckle reduction in photonic phased array structures.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure describe optical structures and devices, and more particularly to improved, tunable optical structures including optical gratings that are dynamically affected and/or tuned by acousto-optic or electro-optic mechanisms.

Abstract: A first photonic die has a first coupling edge and a first die surface, and comprises: a first waveguide extending in proximity to the first coupling edge; a portion of the first die surface forming an alignment edge substantially parallel to the first waveguide; and a first alignment feature etched into or formed adjacent to the first coupling edge. A second photonic die has a second coupling edge and a second die surface, and comprises: a second waveguide extending in proximity to the second coupling edge; a portion of the second die surface configured to form a receptacle sized to constrain a position of the alignment edge; and a second alignment feature etched into or formed adjacent to the second coupling edge and configured to enable alignment with the first alignment feature when the first photonic die and the second photonic die are substantially aligned with each other.

Abstract: A plurality of waveguide structures are formed in at least one silicon layer of a first member. The first member includes: a first surface of a first silicon dioxide layer that is attached to a second member that consists essentially of an optically transmissive material having a thermal conductivity less than about 50 W/(m·K), and a second surface of material that was deposited over at least some of the plurality of waveguide structures. An array of phase shifters is formed in one or more layers of the first member. An array of temperature controlling elements are in proximity to the array of phase shifters.

Abstract: At least one beam of an optical wave is transmitted along a transmission angle toward a target location from a send aperture of a transmitter. A collected optical wave is received at receive apertures of two or more receivers. Each receiver comprises: a receive aperture arranged in proximity to at least one of the send aperture or a receive aperture of a different receiver, an optical phased array within the receive aperture, which receives at least a portion of a collected optical wave arriving at the receive aperture along a respective collection angle, and a detector that provides a signal based on the received portion of the collected optical wave. An estimated distance associated with the collected optical wave is determined based on a combination that includes a respective component corresponding to each of two or more of the signals provided from the detectors of the two or more receivers.

Abstract: Examples of the present invention include integrated erbium-doped waveguide lasers designed for silicon photonic systems. In some examples, these lasers include laser cavities defined by distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) formed in silicon nitride-based waveguides. These DBRs may include grating features defined by wafer-scale immersion lithography, with an upper layer of erbium-doped aluminum oxide deposited as the final step in the fabrication process. The resulting inverted ridge-waveguide yields high optical intensity overlap with the active medium for both the 980 nm pump (89%) and 1.5 ?m laser (87%) wavelengths with a pump-laser intensity overlap of over 93%. The output powers can be 5 mW or higher and show lasing at widely-spaced wavelengths within both the C- and L-bands of the erbium gain spectrum (1536, 1561 and 1596 nm).

Abstract: A plurality of waveguide structures are formed in at least one silicon layer of a first member. The first member includes: a first surface of a first silicon dioxide layer that is attached to a second member that consists essentially of an optically transmissive material having a thermal conductivity less than about 50 W/(m·K), and a second surface of material that was deposited over at least some of the plurality of waveguide structures. An array of phase shifters is formed in one or more layers of the first member. An array of temperature controlling elements are in proximity to the array of phase shifters.

Abstract: An optical device may include at least two waveguides with different propagation constants. Each waveguide is associated with a grating antenna with a grating period selected to emit light at the same emission angle despite the different propagation constants. Each waveguide may be part of an optical path that includes phase shifters. Additionally, the waveguides may be formed in a waveguide layer that is separate from a perturbation layer in which the grating antennas as formed.

Abstract: Examples of the present invention include integrated erbium-doped waveguide lasers designed for silicon photonic systems. In some examples, these lasers include laser cavities defined by distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) formed in silicon nitride-based waveguides. These DBRs may include grating features defined by wafer-scale immersion lithography, with an upper layer of erbium-doped aluminum oxide deposited as the final step in the fabrication process. The resulting inverted ridge-waveguide yields high optical intensity overlap with the active medium for both the 980 nm pump (89%) and 1.5 ?m laser (87%) wavelengths with a pump-laser intensity overlap of over 93%. The output powers can be 5 mW or higher and show lasing at widely-spaced wavelengths within both the C- and L-bands of the erbium gain spectrum (1536, 1561 and 1596 nm).

Abstract: A photodetector includes a germanium layer evanescently coupled to a ring resonator. The ring resonator increases the interaction length between light guided by the ring resonator and the germanium layer without increasing the size of the photodetector, thereby keeping the photodetector's dark current at a low level. The germanium layer absorbs the guided light and converts the absorbed light into electrical signals for detection. The increased interaction length in the resonator allows efficient transfer of light from the resonator to the germanium layer via evanescently coupling. In addition, the internal and external quality factors (Q) of the ring resonator can be matched to achieve (nearly) full absorption of light in the germanium with high quantum efficiency.