Described herein are optical sensing devices for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). A PIC may comprise a plurality of waveguides formed in a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate, and a plurality of heterogeneous lasers, each laser formed from a silicon material of the SOI substrate and to emit an output wavelength comprising an infrared wavelength. Each of these lasers may comprise a resonant cavity included in one of the plurality of waveguides, and a gain material comprising a non-silicon material and adiabatically coupled to the respective waveguide. A light directing element may direct outputs of the plurality of heterogeneous lasers from the PIC towards an object, and one or more detectors may detect light from the plurality of heterogeneous lasers reflected from or transmitted through the object.

A light filter and a spectrometer including the light filter are disclosed. The light filter includes a plurality of filter units having different resonance wavelengths, wherein each of the plurality of filter units includes a cavity layer configured to output light of constructive interference, a Bragg reflection layer provided on a first surface of the cavity layer, and a pattern reflection layer provided on a second surface of the cavity layer opposite to the first surface and configured to cause guided mode resonance of light incident on the pattern reflection layer, the pattern reflection layer including a plurality of reflection structures that are periodically arranged.

A projection display device comprising a light source and an SBG device having a multiplicity of separate SBG elements sandwiched between transparent substrates to which transparent electrodes have been applied. The substrates function as a light guide. A least one transparent electrode comprises a plurality of independently switchable transparent electrode elements, each electrode element substantially overlaying a unique SBG element. Each SBG element encodes image information to be projected on an image surface. Light coupled into the light guide undergoes total internal reflection until diffracted out to the light guide by an activated SBG element. The SBG diffracts light out of the light guide to form an image region on an image surface when subjected to an applied voltage via said transparent electrodes.

A 2-D sensor array includes a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of pixels disposed on the semiconductor substrate. Each pixel includes a coupling region and a junction region, and a slab waveguide structure disposed on the semiconductor substrate and extending from the coupling region to the region. The slab waveguide includes a confinement layer disposed between a first cladding layer and a second cladding layer. The first cladding and the second cladding each have a refractive index that is lower than a refractive index of the confinement layer. Each pixel also includes a coupling structure disposed in the coupling region and within the slab waveguide. The coupling structure includes two materials having different indices of refraction arranged as a grating defined by a grating period. The junction region comprises a p-n junction in communication with electrical contacts for biasing and collection of carriers resulting from absorption of incident radiation.

Method for creating an optical sensing fiber having a reflective structure integrally disposed therein, comprising: providing an optical fiber having a core and a cladding layer disposed in optical contact with the core, and having a polymer coating layer disposed in contact with and surrounding the cladding layer, the coating layer at least partially transparent in the wavelengths of 390-600 nm; providing a source of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength in the range of 390-600 nm; and delivering a selected wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation through the coating layer to a selected location within the fiber core or cladding such that the delivered electromagnetic radiation alters the core or cladding to create at least one reflective structure in the core or cladding at the selected location.

A diagnosis apparatus includes a fiber optic sensor, a collection processor, and a self-diagnosis processor. The fiber optic sensor is configured to be disposed over a target. The collection processor is configured to perform a collection process that collects measurement data related to the target obtained by the fiber optic sensor. The self-diagnosis processor is configured to perform a self-diagnosis process before the collection processor starts the collection process. The self-diagnosis process obtains an output value related to calibration of the fiber optic sensor, causes the collection processor to start the collection process when the output value falls within a proper range, and outputs an error when the output value falls outside the proper range.

A spectrometer includes an input unit for receiving an optical signal, a diffraction grating disposed on the transmission path of the optical signal for dispersing the optical signal into a plurality of spectral rays, an image sensor disposed on the transmission path of at least a portion of the spectral rays, and a waveguide device. A waveguide space is formed between the first and second reflective surfaces of the waveguide device. The optical signal is transmitted from the input unit to the diffraction grating via the waveguide space. The portion of the spectral rays is transmitted to the image sensor via the waveguide space. At least one opening is formed on the waveguide device, and is substantially parallel to the first and/or second reflective surface. A portion of the spectral rays and/or the optical signal diffuses from the opening out of the waveguide space without reaching the image sensor.

A photonic chip for scene illumination, the photonic chip comprises a substrate comprising a face with an etching, a plurality of waveguides extending parallel to a plane formed by the etched face of the substrate, each waveguide being configured to guide at least one light beam, a plurality of diffraction gratings, respectively formed in a waveguide and each being configured to extract, out of the waveguide in which it is formed and towards the etching of the substrate, the light beam propagating in said waveguide, at least two waveguides being configured to receive light beams of different wavelengths, and wherein the etching of the substrate is configured to extract the light beams out of the substrate, towards the scene to be illuminated, said scene lying against the etched face of the substrate and at the level of the etching of the substrate.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods of obtaining a derivative Raman spectrum using an excitation or Raman pump beam whose wavelength is modulated in any suitable manner such as, for example, stochastically. Shifting the wavelength of the input excitation by a small amount in approaches like SERDS can isolate the Raman scatter from other spectral artifacts and reduce the false detection rate. For example, an input excitation sequence can be correlated with the response of an individual pixel of a detector. From this, pixels that have captured Raman scattered photons can be separated from pixels capturing non-Raman photons. These techniques can be expanded to other fields and/or types of spectroscopies that utilize a dispersive element detector with time-dependent spectral features.

The present disclosure is directed to a method of forming a polarization grating structure (e.g., polarizer) as part of a grid structure of a back side illuminated image sensor device. For example, the method includes forming a layer stack over a semiconductor layer with radiation-sensing regions. Further, the method includes forming grating elements of one or more polarization grating structures within a grid structure, where forming the grating elements includes (i) etching the layer stack to form the grid structure and (ii) etching the layer stack to form grating elements oriented to a polarization angle.