Embodiments herein include an optical system that passively aligns a fiber array connector (FAC) to a waveguide in a photonic chip. A substrate of the FAC is machined or etched to include multiple grooves along a common axis or plane to hold optical waveguides, or more specifically, the fibers of the optical cables in the FAC. To align the fibers to the photonic chip, one of the fibers is disposed in an alignment trench which has a width that is substantially the same as the diameter of the fiber. When the fiber registers with the alignment trench, the fiber is aligned with a waveguide disposed at the end of the trench. Because the pitch between the fibers can be precisely controlled, aligning one of the fibers using the alignment trench results in the other fibers becoming passively aligned to respective waveguides in the photonic chip.

A light detection and ranging apparatus (LIDAR) includes at least one waveguide including a first cladding layer having a first refractive index and a second cladding layer having multiple second refractive indexes to expand an optical mode of an optical beam propagating within the waveguide. The second refractive indexes include a gradient of refractive indexes and the first refractive index is less than the second refractive indexes.

A method forms a vertical output coupler for a waveguide that propagates light along a horizontal propagation direction, through a waveguide material that overlies a buried oxide layer. The method includes etching the waveguide to remove a portion of the waveguide. The etching forms at least a first plane that is at an edge of the waveguide, is adjacent to the removed portion of the waveguide, and is tilted at a vertical angle between 20 degrees and 70 degrees with respect to the propagation direction. The method further includes coating the first tilted plane with a reflective metal to form a mirror, such that the mirror reflects the light into a direction having a vertical component.

A graphene optical device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: an upper semiconductor layer; a lower semiconductor layer; and a graphene capacitor disposed between the upper semiconductor layer and the lower semiconductor layer, wherein the graphene capacitor includes a first graphene, a second graphene, and a first insulation layer disposed between the first graphene and the second graphene, wherein the first graphene and the second graphene partially overlap each other when viewed from the upper semiconductor layer toward the lower semiconductor layer.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward techniques and configurations for a single mode optical coupler device. In some embodiments, the device may include a multi-stage optical taper to convert light from a first mode field diameter to a second mode field diameter larger than the first mode field diameter, and a mirror formed in a dielectric layer under an approximately 45 degree angle with respect to a plane of the dielectric layer to reflect light from the multi-stage optical taper substantially perpendicularly to propagate the light in a single mode fashion. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

A composite semiconductor laser is made by securing a III-V wafer to a transfer wafer. A substrate of the III-V wafer is removed, and the III-V wafer is etched into a plurality of chips while the III-V wafer is secured to the transfer wafer. The transfer wafer is singulated. A portion of the transfer wafer is used as a handle for bonding the chip in a recess of a silicon device. The chip is used as a gain medium for the semiconductor laser.

An optical module configured to control a peer to peer transaction includes a silicon photonics substrate, memory formed on the silicon photonics substrate and configured to store a private key, application circuitry formed on the silicon photonics substrate and coupled to the memory, the application circuitry configured to receive, via an external interface, an electrical signal carrying instructions for executing a transaction, verify the transaction using the private key stored in the memory, and selectively generate a transaction message including information for completing the transaction, and optical communication circuitry formed on the silicon photonics substrate and responsive to the application circuitry, the optical communication circuitry configured to generate an optical signal based on the transaction message and transmit the optical signal to at least one remote entity.

According to various embodiments, there is provided an optical device including a first waveguide configured to guide a light wave along a longitudinal axis; a first grating at least partially formed in the first waveguide, the first grating arranged away from the longitudinal axis in a first direction; and a second grating at least partially formed in the first waveguide, the second grating arranged away from the longitudinal axis in a second direction; wherein the second direction is different from the first direction.

An optical phase-shifting device includes a ribbed waveguide portion on an insulating layer, the waveguide portion having a p-n or p-i-n junction extending in a longitudinal direction and having a height. A pair of slab portions are disposed adjacent the waveguide portion, one on each side of the ribbed waveguide portion and on the insulation layer. The slab portion have higher doping concentrations than the respective doping concentrations in the ribbed waveguide portion. At least a portion of each slab portion has a height increasing with distance from the waveguide portion, with the slab height being smaller than that of the waveguide portion at the junction between the waveguide portion and slab portion. A pair of contact portions are formed adjacent the respective slab portion and further away from the waveguide portion. A portion of each contact portion can also have a height varying with distance from the waveguide portion.

An optical device includes a semiconductor laser light source, a grating element and an optical transmission element. The grating element includes a ridge-type optical waveguide having an incident surface to which a semiconductor laser light is incident and an emitting surface from which an outgoing light having a desired wavelength is emitted, and a Bragg grating formed in the ridge-type optical waveguide. The light transmission element includes an optical transmission part having an incident surface to which the outgoing light from the ridge-type optical waveguide is incident. A near-field diameter in a horizontal direction at the incident surface of the optical transmission part is greater than a near-field diameter in the horizontal direction at the emitting surface of said ridge-type optical waveguide.