An optical modulator includes an optical modulation element that is accommodated in a housing. A plurality of lead pins, which are electrically connected to the optical modulation element through wire bonding, are fixed to a lateral wall of the housing. Each of the plurality of lead pins includes a portion that protrudes into an inner space (inner surface side) of the housing. A resonance suppressing structure (for example, a concave portion), which is configured to suppress resonance between the lead pins, is provided in a lateral wall portion to which the plurality of lead pins are fixed.

A novel phase shifter design for carrier depletion based silicon modulators, based on an experimentally validated model, is described. It is believed that the heretofore neglected effect of incomplete ionization will have a significant impact on ultra-responsive phase shifters. A low VL product of 0.3 V.cm associated with a low propagation loss of 20 dB/cm is expected to be observed. The phase shifter is based on overlapping implantation steps, where the doses and energies are carefully chosen to utilize counter-doping to produce an S-shaped junction. This junction has a particularly attractive VL figure of merit, while simultaneously achieving attractively low capacitance and optical loss. This improvement will enable significantly smaller Mach-Zehnder modulators to be constructed that nonetheless would have low drive voltages, with substantial decreases in insertion loss. The described fabrication process is of minimal complexity; in particular, no high-resolution lithographic step is required.

Embodiments disclosed herein include a package substrate. In an embodiment, the package substrate comprises a core where the core comprises glass. In an embodiment, the package substrate further comprises an optical waveguide over the core, and an optical phase change material over the optical waveguide.

An optical device includes a heater electrode that heats an optical waveguide, an electrode that has larger conductivity than conductivity of the heater electrode, and a via that electrically connects the heater electrode and the electrode. The heater electrode includes a connection portion that is connected to the via and that has a large electrode width, and a main body that has a thinner electrode width than the electrode width of the connection portion. The via is located on a center line of the heater electrode and includes a via end portion at a side of the main body, where the via end portion is configured to diffuse electric current that flows between the via and the heater electrode.

One some embodiments, a method for tuning optical components includes receiving an optical signal in a waveguide in a photonic-integrated circuit (PIC) and detecting optical outputs of the optical components. The method further includes determining pulse signals for the optical components designed to cause the optical components to each have a peak-resonance wavelength that matches a corresponding wavelength of the optical signal. The method further includes tuning the optical components by sending the pulse signals to the optical components.

An optical system has a beam-steering device having a planar waveguide region between a tapered incoupler and a tapered outcoupler that respectively define opposing incoupler and outcoupler facets of the BS device. Each region has a substrate, a subcladding layer over the substrate, a core layer over the subcladding, and a top cladding layer over the core. Within the incoupler, at least one of the subcladding and the top cladding has a material having a refractive index that varies with an applied field (e.g., an electric field) applied at the incoupler. The optical system also has a field-applying device that applies the applied field at the incoupler, an output detector that generates a feedback signal based on detected outgoing light output from the outcoupler, and a controller that controls the field-applying device based on the feedback signal to alter the light output from the outcoupler.

A beam-steering device, such as a steerable electro-evanescent optical refractor, has a planar waveguide region between an incoupler and an outcoupler. Each region has a substrate and a plurality of thin-film layers, such as a subcladding layer over the substrate and a core layer over the subcladding. For at least one coupler, at least two of the thin-film layers have spatially varying optical thicknesses due to, for example, the subcladding and the core being tapered with decreasing thicknesses from the waveguide region to the corresponding facet of the BS device. Alternatively, spatially varying optical thickness can be achieved by spatially varying a layer's refractive index. The coupler has a FWHM bandwidth and a FWHM coupling angle tolerance that greatly exceed those achievable using conventional Ulrich couplers.

A novel phase shifter design for carrier depletion based silicon modulators, based on an experimentally validated model, is described. It is believed that the heretofore neglected effect of incomplete ionization will have a significant impact on ultra-responsive phase shifters. A low VL product of 0.3 V.Math.cm associated with a low propagation loss of 20 dB/cm is expected to be observed. The phase shifter is based on overlapping implantation steps, where the doses and energies are carefully chosen to utilize counter-doping to produce an S-shaped junction. This junction has a particularly attractive VL figure of merit, while simultaneously achieving attractively low capacitance and optical loss. This improvement will enable significantly smaller Mach-Zehnder modulators to be constructed that nonetheless would have low drive voltages, with substantial decreases in insertion loss. The described fabrication process is of minimal complexity; in particular, no high-resolution lithographic step is required.

A package comprises a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) with a modulator having a first modulator input, and a PIC interconnect region within two millimeters or fifty microns from the modulator. Additionally, an electric integrated circuit (EIC) is included with a driver circuit and an EIC interconnect region within two millimeters or fifty microns from the driver circuit. The driver circuit is electrically connected to the first modulator input via the EIC interconnect region, a first metal interconnect, and the PIC interconnect region. The modulator receives a temperature-dependent bias voltage, where the temperature dependence of the bias voltage inversely matches the temperature dependence of the modulator across an extended temperature range.

A display system adapted to display images with animation and depth without requiring a viewer to wear special 3D eyewear. The system includes a controller and a programmable light source operating in response to control signals from the controller to output light. The system further includes an edge-lit layer with an edge optically coupled to the programmable light source, and the output light is trapped in the layer with total internal reflection (TIR), The layer is divided into first and second segments, and an optical barrier is inserted between the segments. First and second display areas, such as etched graphics, are provided on surfaces of the two segments, and the display areas are configured to enable the light trapped via TIR to escape. Independent lighting of the segments can be used to provide animation. Depth is provided by stacking one-to-many additional similar layers on the first layer.