Abstract: An external cavity diode laser has been developed to achieve a linear frequency chirp over a broad bandwidth using a silicon photonic filter chip as the external cavity. By appropriately chirping the cavity phase using the gain chip and/or a cavity phase modulator on the silicon photonic chip along with simultaneously varying the filter resonance, approximately linear frequency chirping can be accomplished for at least 50 GHz, although desirable structures with useful lesser chirp bandwidths are also described. With careful control of the chip design, it is possible to achieve predictable behavior of mode jumps along with large scannable ranges within a mode, which allows for stitching together segments of linear chirp through a mode jump to provide for very large chirp bandwidths greater than 1 THz.

Abstract: Devices are provided to perform imaging using laser light based on scanning without any mechanically moving parts to obtain a scan over the field of view. An optical chip comprises a row of selectable emitting elements comprising: a row feed optical waveguide, a plurality of selectable, electrically actuated solid state optical switches, a pixel optical waveguide associated with each optical switch configured to receive the switched optical signal, and a solid state first vertical coupler associated with the pixel waveguide configured to direct the optical signal out of the plane of the optical chip. The optical chip can be connected with an electrical circuit board to control operation of the optical chip. A lens can be positioned to direct the light from a selected pixel along a specific direction such that a scan over an array of pixels covers a desired portion of the field of view.

Abstract: A reconfigurable multi-add/drop module for optical communications. The system includes a first network interface GRIN lens collimator connected on one end to an optical fiber of a communications network. An output of the GRIN lens is directed to a series of slidable two-section channel filters. Each filter is mechanically movable to a first position that passes all wavelengths. The second position of each filter reflects a particular wavelength to a corresponding add/drop GRIN lens collimator that receives the reflected light and outputs it into an add/drop fiber. The outputs from the add/drop collimators are directed to a single add/drop fiber through use of a power combiner. Light that passes through all of the filters is directed into a second network interface GRIN lens collimator for the purpose of coupling the light onto a second network optical fiber. A carrier wavelength can also be entered/added at the add/drop port.

Abstract: An optically addressed spatial light modulator (OASLM), and an optical pattern processor employing the same. An embodiment of the OASLM includes a transparent electrode; a buffer layer; a detector region; and a modulator region, wherein the detector and modulator regions are optically isolated and resist electron movement therebetween. In one embodiment, the detector region includes a photoconductive semiconductor region with a higher band gap than the modulator region and the modulator region comprises a low-photoconductive semiconductor material.