Embodiments of this application provide an optical power adjustment system and an optical power adjustment apparatus. The system includes a multi-mode light source, a mode demultiplexer, and an optical power adjustment apparatus. The multi-mode light source is configured to output a multi-mode optical signal, where the multi-mode optical signal includes N transverse-mode optical signals, N=2.sup.M, and M is an integer greater than 1. The mode demultiplexer is configured to convert the N transverse-mode optical signals into N fundamental-mode optical signals, and output the N fundamental-mode optical signals. The optical power adjustment apparatus includes M optical power adjustment modules and a control apparatus, each optical power adjustment module includes a plurality of phase shifters, and the control apparatus is electrically connected to the M optical power adjustment modules. A K.sup.th optical power adjustment module includes 2.sup.K1 multi-mode interferometers MMIs.

Example embodiments relate to an electro-optical device that includes a vertical p-i-n diode waveguide. The electro-optical device includes a waveguide portion adapted for propagating a multimode wave, the waveguide portion including an intrinsic semiconductor region of the vertical p-i-n diode, a first contact and a second contact for electrically contacting a first electrode and a second electrode of the vertical p-i-n diode. The device also includes an input section for coupling radiation into the waveguide portion and an output section for coupling radiation out of the waveguide portion. The input section, the output section, and the waveguide portion are configured to support a multimode interference pattern for the multimode wave with an optical field with a lateral inhomogeneous spatial distribution in the waveguide portion including regions with higher optical field intensity and regions with lower optical field intensity. The second contact physically contacts the second electrode.

A multi-mode interferometric optical waveguide device includes: a multi-mode interferometric optical waveguide which includes a first reflective surface; a first single-mode waveguide connected to the multi-mode interferometric optical waveguide; and a second single-mode waveguide connected to the multi-mode interferometric optical waveguide and oppose the first reflective surface. Consequently, the multi-mode interferometric optical waveguide device can propagate light from the first single-mode waveguide to the second single-mode waveguide, with further reduced optical losses.

An optoelectronic chip includes optical inputs having different passbands, a photonic circuit to be tested, and an optical coupling device configured to couple said inputs to the photonic circuit to be tested.

A fast optical (with or without a photonic crystal) switch is fabricated/constructed, utilizing a phase transition material/Mott insulator, activated by either an electrical pulse (a voltage pulse or a current pulse) and/or a light pulse and/or pulses in terahertz (THz) frequency of a suitable field strength and/or hot electrons. The applications of such a fast optical switch for an on-demand optical add-drop subsystem, integrating with (a) a light slowing/light stopping component (based on metamaterials and/or nanoplasmonic structures) and (b) with or without a wavelength converter are also described.

Example embodiments relate to an electro-optical device that includes a vertical p-i-n diode waveguide. The electro-optical device includes a waveguide portion adapted for propagating a multimode wave, the waveguide portion including an intrinsic semiconductor region of the vertical p-i-n diode, a first contact and a second contact for electrically contacting a first electrode and a second electrode of the vertical p-i-n diode. The device also includes an input section for coupling radiation into the waveguide portion and an output section for coupling radiation out of the waveguide portion. The input section, the output section, and the waveguide portion are configured to support a multimode interference pattern for the multimode wave with an optical field with a lateral inhomogeneous spatial distribution in the waveguide portion including regions with higher optical field intensity and regions with lower optical field intensity. The second contact physically contacts the second electrode.

Provided is an apparatus configured to split light into a plurality of polarizations, the apparatus including an input waveguide configured to receive the light, a first interferometer configured to split the light into a first polarization and a second polarization, and a second interferometer configured to split the light into a third polarization and a fourth polarization, wherein the first interferometer and the second interferometer are connected in parallel, the first interferometer comprises a first output waveguide configured to output the first polarization, and a second output waveguide configured to output the second polarization, and the second interferometer comprises a third output waveguide configured to output the third polarization, and a fourth output waveguide configured to output the fourth polarization.

An integrated mode converter and multiplexer (/demultiplexer) combines a multimode interference coupler, at least one phase-shifter and a symmetrical Y-junction. The dispersion of the multimode interference coupler is engineered through subwavelength structures in order to achieve a very wide bandwidth. Several phase-shifter topologies for further bandwidth enhancement are disclosed, as well as architectures for multiplexing a greater number of optical modes.

Systems, methods, and techniques for optofluidic analyte detection and analysis using multi-mode interference (MMI) waveguides are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, spatially and spectrally multiplexed optical detection of particles is implemented on an optofluidic platform comprising multiple analyte channels intersecting a single MMI waveguide. In some embodiments, multi-stage photonic structures including a first stage MMI waveguide for demultiplexing optical signals by spatially separating different wavelengths of light from one another may be implemented. In some embodiments, a second stage may use single-mode waveguides and/or MMI waveguides to create multi-spot patterns using the demultiplexed, spatially separated light output from the first stage. In some embodiments, liquid-core MMI (LC-MMI) waveguides that are tunable by replacing a liquid core, heating/cooling the liquid core, and/or deforming the LC-MMI to change its width may be implemented in one or more of the analyte detection/analysis systems disclosed herein.

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising a first and a second polarization beam splitter-rotator (140, 142), together arranged to split two incoming polarization encoded qubits into four first optical modes, the apparatus being configured to align polarizations of the four first optical modes, an interferometer stage (150) configured to obtain, from the four first optical modes, four second optical modes, and four detectors (160) arranged to receive at least one of the four second optical modes.