The visual detection of a silicon optical circuit in a conventional technique depends on sensory decision by a human who visually conducts checking, and there has been limitation in completely detecting small flaws. The optical circuit of the present invention includes, in addition to an optical circuit that implements desired functions, an optical waveguide for flaw detection which surrounds the entire optical circuit and which is sufficiently proximate to the optical waveguide of the optical circuit and grating couplers connected to the optical waveguide for detection. Based on the transmission characteristic measurement of the optical waveguide for detection using the grating couplers, a flaw within each chip can be efficiently discovered in the state of a wafer before being cut into chips. A flaw can also be discovered hierarchically by providing individual optical waveguides for detection for respective chips and by further forming one common optical waveguide for detection over the plurality of chips.

Hybrid optical integration places very strict manufacturing tolerances and performance requirements upon the multiple elements to exploit passive alignment techniques as well as having additional processing requirements. Alternatively, active alignment and soldering/fixing where feasible is also complex and time consuming with 3, 4, or 6-axis control of each element. However, microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems can sense, control, and activate mechanical processes on the micro scale. Beneficially, therefore the inventors combine silicon MEMS based micro-actuators with silicon CMOS control and drive circuits in order to provide alignment of elements within a silicon optical circuit either with respect to each other or with other optical elements hybridly integrated such as compound semiconductor elements. Such inventive MEMS based circuits may be either maintained as active during deployment or powered off once the alignment has been locked through an attachment/retention/latching process.

An electro-holographic light field generator device comprises surface acoustic wave (SAW) optical modulators arranged in different directions. Specifically, some embodiments have SAW modulators arranged in pairs, nose-to-nose with each other, and have output couplers that provide face-fire light emission. These SAW modulators also possibly include SAW sense transducers and/or viscoelastic surface material to reduce crosstalk.

An electro-holographic light field generator device comprises surface acoustic wave (SAW) optical modulators arranged in different directions. Specifically, some embodiments have SAW modulators arranged in pairs, nose-to-nose with each other, and have output couplers that provide face-fire light emission. These SAW modulators also possibly include SAW sense transducers and/or viscoelastic surface material to reduce crosstalk.

A monolithically integrated optical device. The device has a gallium and nitrogen containing substrate member having a surface region configured on either a non-polar or semi-polar orientation. The device also has a first waveguide structure configured in a first direction overlying a first portion of the surface region. The device also has a second waveguide structure integrally configured with the first waveguide structure. The first direction is substantially perpendicular to the second direction.

A method includes providing a sacrificial wafer, contacting the sacrificial wafer to a photonic device wafer, and bonding the sacrificial wafer to the photonic device wafer. The sacrificial wafer includes a substrate and an electro-optical material strip disposed within a dielectric matrix. The photonic device wafer includes a photonic device die, and the electro-optical material strip is disposed proximate to the photonic device die. A photonic device structure includes a photonic device wafer and a sacrificial wafer. The photonic device structure includes a device wafer substrate and a photonic device die fabricated in a device wafer dielectric layer. The sacrificial wafer includes a sacrificial wafer substrate and an electro-optical material strip embedded in a sacrificial wafer dielectric matrix. The sacrificial wafer dielectric matrix is bonded to the device wafer dielectric layer, and the electro-optical material strip is disposed proximate to the photonic device die.

An example device in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure includes a first semiconductor layer disposed on a substrate, a dielectric layer disposed between the first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer dissimilar from the first semiconductor layer. A capacitor is formed of at least a portion of the first semiconductor layer, the dielectric layer, and the second semiconductor layer, and is to be included in an optical waveguide resonator.

A device includes a surface profile optical element, including a substrate and a plurality of bi-layer stacks on the substrate. Each bi-layer stack of the plurality of bi-layer stacks includes a plurality of bi-layers. Each bi-layer of the plurality of bi-layers includes an etch-stop layer and a bulk layer. The etch stop layer includes an etch stop layer index of refraction. The bulk layer includes a bulk layer index of refraction. A ratio of the etch stop layer index of retraction and the bulk layer index of refraction is between 0.75 and 1.25.

A grating coupler integrated in a photonically-enabled circuit and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the grating coupler includes a substrate comprising a silicon wafer, a first grating region etched iton the substrate, wherein the first grating region comprises a first plurality of gratings having a first predetermined height, and a second grating region etched into the substrate, wherein the second grating region comprises a second plurality of gratings having a second predetermined height and wherein the first and second predetermined heights are not identical.

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) includes a waveguide in or over a semiconductor substrate. The waveguide has a terminal end. The PIC also includes an optical absorber having a curved shape adjacent to opposing sides and an endwall of the terminal end of the waveguide, i.e., it surrounds the terminal end of the waveguide. The optical absorber is multi-layered and includes a light absorbing layer. The light absorbing layer may include germanium or a vanadate. The optical absorber terminates or attenuates any stray optical signals from the waveguide while maintaining low back reflection.