An optical circuit includes one or more input waveguides, a plurality of output waveguides, and a reflector structure. At least a portion of the reflector structure forms an interface with the one or more input waveguides. The portion of the reflector structure has a smaller refractive index than the one or more input waveguides. An electrical circuit is electrically coupled to the optical circuit. The electrical circuit generates and sends different electrical signals to the reflector structure. In response to the reflector structure receiving the different electrical signals, a carrier concentration level at or near the interface or a temperature at or near the interface changes, such that incident radiation received from the one or more input waveguides is tunably reflected by the reflector structure into a targeted output waveguide of the plurality of output waveguides.

Embodiments of a thermally modulated photonic switch are presented herein. One embodiment comprises a topology-optimized structure that includes dispersed silicon and silicon dioxide. This topology-optimized structure includes an input waveguide, a first output waveguide, and a second output waveguide. The topology-optimized structure routes a light beam from the input waveguide to the first output waveguide, when the topology-optimized structure is at a first predetermined temperature that causes a refractive index of the silicon in the topology-optimized structure to assume a first predetermined value, and the topology-optimized structure routes a light beam from the input waveguide to the second output waveguide, when the topology-optimized structure is at a second predetermined temperature that causes the refractive index of the silicon in the topology-optimized structure to assume a second predetermined value that is distinct from the first predetermined value.

A method of fusing qubits includes providing, to a Hadamard gate: a first qubit; a second qubit; and a Bell pair comprising a fourth qubit that is entangled with a fifth qubit. The method further includes determining whether the Hadamard gate was successful in producing a fused qubit. The method further includes in accordance with the determination that the Hadamard gate was successful in producing fused qubit, outputting the fused qubit.

An optical switching device (20) includes a substrate (39) and first and second optical waveguides (23, 25) having respective first and second tapered ends (62, 64), which are fixed on the substrate in mutual proximity one to another. A pair of electrodes (36, 38) is disposed on the substrate with a gap therebetween. A cantilever beam (32) is disposed on the substrate within the gap and configured to deflect transversely between first and second positions within the gap in response to a potential applied between the electrodes. A third optical waveguide (21) is mounted on the cantilever beam and has a third tapered end (60) disposed between the first and second tapered ends of the first and second waveguides, so that the third tapered end is in proximity with the first tapered end when the cantilever beam is in the first position and is in proximity with the second tapered end when the cantilever beam is in the second position.

Described herein are photonic communication platforms that can overcome the memory bottleneck problem, thereby enabling scaling of memory capacity and bandwidth well beyond what is possible with conventional computing systems. Some embodiments provide photonic communication platforms that involve use of photonic modules. Each photonic module includes programmable photonic circuits for placing the module in optical communication with other modules based on the needs of a particular application. The architecture developed by the inventors relies on the use of common photomask sets (or at least one common photomask) to fabricate multiple photonic modules in a single wafer. Photonic modules in multiple wafers can be linked together into a communication platform using optical or electronic means.

Described herein are photonic communication platforms that permit use by multiple users in a secure way. A platform comprises a substrate, a first photonic circuit monolithically integrated with the substrate, and a second photonic circuit monolithically integrated with the substrate. The first photonic circuit is patterned with a first plurality of photonic modules, the photonic modules of the first plurality being copies of a common template photonic module The second photonic circuit is patterned with a second plurality of photonic modules, the photonic modules of the second plurality being copies of the common template photonic module. A photonic link couples the first photonic circuit to the second photonic circuit. A controller optically isolates the first photonic circuit from the second photonic circuit by optically interrupting the photonic link.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, an apparatus is provided. In an aspect, the apparatus includes an optical transceiver having a first port, a second port and an optical switch coupled to the first port and the second port. The optical switch is switchable between a unidirectional port operation mode and a bidirectional port operation mode. When the optical switch is in the unidirectional port operation mode, the first port is configured to send a first optical signal, and the second port configured to receive a second optical signal. When the optical switch is in the bidirectional port operation mode, the first port configured to send the first optical signal and receive the second optical signal, and the second port configured to receive a third optical signal and not send the first signal. Furthermore, a second bidirectional port operation mode is supported with the second port configured to send the first optical signal and receive the second optical signal, and the first port configured to receive a third optical signal and not send the first signal.

An optical waveguide structure and a manufacturing method, an optical waveguide module, an optical switching device, and an optical waveguide system are provided, and belong to the field of optical communication. The optical waveguide structure includes: at least two optical waveguides disposed in a stacked manner, where a first optical waveguide channel is disposed between two optical waveguides located at different layers in the at least two optical waveguides, and two ends of the first optical waveguide channel are physically connected to the two optical waveguides.

Disclosed are an optical phased array chip and a method of manufacturing the same. The optical phased array chip includes a plurality of optical switches and a plurality of optical phased arrays implemented on a single integrated circuit, wherein the single integrated circuit includes a silicon substrate, a lower layer formed on an upper portion of the silicon substrate, a silicon layer formed on an upper portion of the lower layer, a first upper layer, a second upper layer and a third upper layer sequentially arranged on the silicon layer, and an electrode that penetrates through the first upper layer while being grounded to the silicon layer and is formed on an upper portion of the first upper layer.

Embodiments of a thermally modulated photonic switch are presented herein. One embodiment comprises a topology-optimized structure that includes dispersed silicon and silicon dioxide. This topology-optimized structure includes an input waveguide, a first output waveguide, and a second output waveguide. The topology-optimized structure routes a light beam from the input waveguide to the first output waveguide, when the topology-optimized structure is at a first predetermined temperature that causes a refractive index of the silicon in the topology-optimized structure to assume a first predetermined value, and the topology-optimized structure routes a light beam from the input waveguide to the second output waveguide, when the topology-optimized structure is at a second predetermined temperature that causes the refractive index of the silicon in the topology-optimized structure to assume a second predetermined value that is distinct from the first predetermined value.