Patents by Inventor Yu KURATA

Yu KURATA has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11947171
    Abstract: There is provided an optical waveguide component capable of implementing highly efficient optical coupling of an optical element and suppressing a crosstalk between channels in performing hybrid integration. A PLC as an optical waveguide component employing an offset structure includes an input-output unit using a local portion of an inclined surface on the side of a core in an inclined groove of an optical path conversion unit to be loaded with an optical element as a mirror surface. The inclined groove is formed to be deeper than the core in a direction intersecting an emission direction of an optical signal in the core and perpendicular to a horizontal direction of a substrate. An offset unit in the horizontal direction of the substrate is provided to communicate with the inclined groove on the side of an opposite inclined surface opposing the mirror surface as the local portion of the inclined surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yu Kurata
  • Publication number: 20230280524
    Abstract: An optical waveguide component is configured to have a dual structure in which a core region of the first optical waveguide is contained within the core region of the second optical waveguide in a cross-section perpendicular to the length direction of the optical waveguide. The refractive index of a first material of the core of the first optical waveguide is greater than a refractive index of a second material of the core of a second optical waveguide. The refractive index of a second material constituting the core of a second optical waveguide is greater than a refractive index of a third material constituting cladding of the second optical waveguide. The center height of the core of the first optical waveguide and the center height of the core of the second optical waveguide are aligned, which solves connectivity problems caused by worsened butt coupling efficiency, and incomplete adiabatic coupling in an SSC structure of prior art.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2020
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Yoshie Morimoto, Kenya Suzuki, Osamu Moriwaki, Yu Kurata
  • Publication number: 20230266534
    Abstract: The optical waveguide component of the present disclosure provides a configuration for optically connecting two optical waveguides composed of different materials with low loss. The first optical circuit including the core of a first material and a second optical circuit including a core of a second material are configured on a single substrate. The optical waveguide component of the present disclosure includes an optical connection part between two optical circuits, and has a double structure in which a core cross-sectional region of one optical waveguide is included in a core cross-sectional region of the other optical waveguide between the two optical waveguides. The optical connection part is provided with a protrusion part of the underclad extending along the first core from the high-level surface toward the low-level surface of the underclad toward, and the width of the protrusion part is gradually narrowed toward the second optical circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2020
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Yu Kurata, Kenya Suzuki, Yoshie Morimoto
  • Publication number: 20230194248
    Abstract: An embodiment is a three-dimensional measurement system including a projection device configured to generate a fringe pattern by interference between two light beams and project the fringe pattern onto an object, and a mobile terminal, wherein the projection device includes a fringe generation unit composed of a planar lightwave circuit including a phase modulator, the fringe generation unit being configured to generate the fringe pattern, and a phase control unit configured to control the phase modulator and change a phase of the fringe pattern, wherein the mobile terminal includes a camera configured to perform image-taking of the object, the fringe pattern being projected onto the object, and an image analysis unit configured to analyze a plurality of images which are taken by the camera and are different in the phase of the fringe pattern and calculate three-dimensional shape data of the object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Kei Watanabe, Yu Kurata
  • Publication number: 20230161104
    Abstract: A photonic integrated optical device can implement hybrid integration of an optical functional element simply and easily using an optical circuit of a PLC as a platform and allows high accuracy butt-joining of optical waveguides. For that, on the side of an optical circuit on top of a substrate of the PLC, the device uses a butt-joint holding substrate that transmits light in the wavelength region ranging from the UV light band to the visible light band. A UV-cure adhesive is filled into a gap between an optical circuit of the PD and an optical circuit of the PLC and a gap between an end face of a substrate of the PD and an end face of the substrate. This allows a joint to be formed by the UV-cure adhesive filled into the gap between the butt-joining end faces and cured by UV light passing through the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2020
    Publication date: May 25, 2023
    Inventor: Yu Kurata
  • Publication number: 20220334309
    Abstract: Provided is an optical waveguide component that may couple optical waveguides simply at low optical coupling loss when configuring a photoelectron integration device by means of hybrid integration by coupling an optical element. In the component, groove portions deeper than a core of an optical waveguide are provided in parallel on both sides of the core in an extending direction of the optical waveguide that covers the core. A refractive index of a medium that occupies the groove portions is lower than a refractive index of an underclad and an overclad to equivalently increase a difference in refractive index between the core and both the underclad and the overclad. Accordingly, confinement of light propagating through the core of the optical waveguide can be enhanced, and a mode field of the propagating light can be adjusted so as to become smaller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Publication date: October 20, 2022
    Inventors: Yu Kurata, Yuichiro Ikuma
  • Publication number: 20220163738
    Abstract: There is provided an optical waveguide component capable of implementing highly efficient optical coupling of an optical element and suppressing a crosstalk between channels in performing hybrid integration. A PLC as an optical waveguide component employing an offset structure includes an input-output unit using a local portion of an inclined surface on the side of a core in an inclined groove of an optical path conversion unit to be loaded with an optical element as a mirror surface. The inclined groove is formed to be deeper than the core in a direction intersecting an emission direction of an optical signal in the core and perpendicular to a horizontal direction of a substrate. An offset unit in the horizontal direction of the substrate is provided to communicate with the inclined groove on the side of an opposite inclined surface opposing the mirror surface as the local portion of the inclined surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2020
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventor: Yu Kurata
  • Patent number: 11002995
    Abstract: A fringe projector apparatus includes: a phase modulator having a first waveguide, a second waveguide, and a plurality of heaters including a first heater and a second heater, wherein the first and second waveguides and the plurality of heaters are provided on a single substrate, and wherein the first heater heats the first waveguide and the second heater heats a position away from the first waveguide; a light source that generates a light beam to be input to the first waveguide and the second waveguide; and a controller that controls a phase difference between the first waveguide and the second waveguide by changing an electric power consumption of the first heater under a condition that a total electric power consumption of the plurality of heaters is constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignees: OLYMPUS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daichi Watanabe, Satomi Katayose, Kei Watanabe, Yu Kurata, Ryoichi Kasahara
  • Patent number: 10969281
    Abstract: An illumination apparatus generates an interference fringe. An input arm receives an input light beam from a light source. A splitter splits the input light beam that has passed through the input arm into a first output arm and a second output arm. A phase modulator changes a phase difference between the output light beams of the first output arm and the second output arm. A phase detector detects the phase difference between output light beams respectively output from the first output arm and the second output arm based on a return light beam generated by combining a first reflected light beam and a second reflected light beam respectively reflected by ends of the first output arm and the second output arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignees: OLYMPUS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daichi Watanabe, Kei Watanabe, Yu Kurata, Satomi Katayose, Ryoichi Kasahara
  • Publication number: 20190339069
    Abstract: An optical measurement apparatus includes a light projector that projects a patterned light, and an imager that captures an image of a target onto which the patterned light has been projected. The light projector and the imager are fixed to each other via a mounting face that intersects both a projection axis direction of the light projector and an image acquisition axis direction of the imager.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Applicants: OLYMPUS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daichi WATANABE, Kanto MIYAZAKI, Satomi KATAYOSE, Kei WATANABE, Yu KURATA, Ryoichi KASAHARA
  • Publication number: 20190339549
    Abstract: A fringe projector apparatus includes: a phase modulator having a first waveguide, a second waveguide, and a plurality of heaters including a first heater and a second heater, wherein the first and second waveguides and the plurality of heaters are provided on a single substrate, and wherein the first heater heats the first waveguide and the second heater heats a position away from the first waveguide; a light source that generates a light beam to be input to the first waveguide and the second waveguide; and a controller that controls a phase difference between the first waveguide and the second waveguide by changing an electric power consumption of the first heater under a condition that a total electric power consumption of the plurality of heaters is constant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Applicants: OLYMPUS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daichi WATANABE, Satomi KATAYOSE, Kei WATANABE, Yu KURATA, Ryoichi KASAHARA
  • Publication number: 20190339055
    Abstract: An illumination apparatus generates an interference fringe. An input arm receives an input light beam from a light source. A splitter splits the input light beam that has passed through the input arm into a first output arm and a second output arm. A phase modulator changes a phase difference between the output light beams of the first output arm and the second output arm. A phase detector detects the phase difference between output light beams respectively output from the first output arm and the second output arm based on a return light beam generated by combining a first reflected light beam and a second reflected light beam respectively reflected by ends of the first output arm and the second output arm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Applicants: OLYMPUS CORPORATION, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daichi WATANABE, Kei WATANABE, Yu KURATA, Satomi KATAYOSE, Ryoichi KASAHARA