An electro-optic Mach-Zehnder modulator comprising a first and a second optical waveguide, and a plurality of pairs of electro-optic phase shifters forming segments, for each pair one phase shifter per optical waveguide, distributed over the length of the optical waveguides, wherein the electro-optic phase shifters are configured for phase-modulating the optical signals. The modulator, moreover, comprising at least one crossing element configured for crossing the optical waveguides between two segments.

An optical device for an optical sensor comprises a gain element of a semiconductor laser, a wavelength selective feedback element, and a sensing element. At least part of the wavelength selective feedback element and the sensing element are arranged in a common sensor package. The gain element is arranged to generate and amplify an optical signal. The gain element and the wavelength selective feedback element form at least part of an external cavity of the semiconductor laser, thereby providing a feedback mechanism to sustain a laser oscillation depending on the optical signal. The wavelength selective feedback element is arranged to couple out a fraction of the optical signal and direct said fraction of the optical signal towards the sensing element to probe a physical property of the sensing element.

A photonic module, comprising a first waveguide; a second waveguide, disposed on an opposing side of the first waveguide to a substrate; and, a coupling section. One of the first waveguide and the second waveguide is formed of crystalline silicon. The other of the first waveguide and the second waveguide is formed of amorphous silicon. The coupling section is configured to couple light between the first waveguide and the second waveguide. Such a silicon photonic module has enhanced coupling and transmission properties in contrast to conventional modules.

Disclosed are a Mach-Zehnder interferometric optical modulator and a method for manufacturing the same. The modulator includes first and second lower clad layers, a core layer, an upper clad layer, a waveguide, and electrodes. The waveguide may include an input waveguide, a waveguide divider, branch waveguides, and a waveguide combiner. Each of the branch waveguides includes first and second connection regions connected to the waveguide combiner and the waveguide divider, respectively, and a phase shift region having a cross-section of a reverse mesa structure that has an upper width that is the same as widths of the first and second connection regions and a lower width that is smaller than the widths of the first and second connection regions.

Arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) are important components in coarse wavelength divisional multiplexing (CWDM) and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). However, the waveguides forming the array must be separated by a distance large enough to suppress parasitic coupling between the adjacent waveguides and thus limiting reductions in device footprint and insertion loss between the input/output coupler regions and the central region comprising the arrayed waveguides. The inventors have established a design methodology allowing the waveguide separation to be reduced whilst limiting cross-coupling thereby allowing for reduced footprints and insertion loss.

A photonic integrated circuit including having a semiconductor substrate having integrated a semiconductor light source, the semiconductor light source comprising: an optically active section comprising a gain section and configured to support a first number of wavelengths, an optically passive section comprising a passive waveguide optically coupled to the optically active section and a passive section mirror optically coupled to the passive waveguide, wherein the optically passive section is configured to support a second number of wavelengths that is lower than the first number; and the optically passive section further comprising a signal shifting structure configured to shift a signal of the light supported by the passive waveguide.

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.

The present disclosure relates to implementations of a photonic circuit, and particularly to a photonic circuit that includes one or more matrix circuits. For example, the present disclosure relates to photonic circuit implementations of unitary matrices, and of arbitrary real and/or complex matrices factorized using unitary matrices, that utilize special generalized Mach-Zehnder interferometers (SGMZIs) as building blocks of various matrix circuit architectures.

A bidirectional optical device includes a first optical component, wherein a portion of a first interface of the first optical component has a reflector coating, wherein a second interface of the first optical component has an optical coating, and wherein the first optical component includes an internal splitting interface disposed between the first interface and the second interface, and a second optical component including a reflector aligned to the second interface of the first optical component, wherein the first optical component and the second optical component comprise an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer.

To provide an optical waveguide device in which damage to a thin plate, particularly damage to an optical waveguide, is prevented. An optical waveguide device includes: a thin plate 1 that has an electro-optic effect and that has a thickness of equal to or thinner than 10 μm, an optical waveguide 2 being formed on the thin plate; and a reinforcing substrate that supports the thin plate, in which the thin plate 1 has a rectangular shape in a plan view, a dissimilar element layer 3, in which an element different from an element constituting the thin plate is disposed in the thin plate, is formed on at least a portion between an outer periphery of the thin plate and the optical waveguide 2, and a total length over which a cleavage plane of the thin plate traverses a region where the dissimilar element layer is formed, is equal to or longer than 5% of a width of the thin plate in a short side direction.