A silicon optical modulator includes a silicon-on-insulator substrate and a first waveguide and a second waveguide arranged parallel to each other in the silicon-on-insulator substrate. The first waveguide includes a first PN junction. The second waveguide includes a second PN junction. At least one of the first PN junction and the second PN junction is disposed at an interface between a P type doped region and a N type doped region. The interface has an irregular shape that is not perpendicular to a plane in which the silicon-on-insulator substrate lies.

An example method of forming a deterministic thin film from a crystal substrate is described herein. The method can include implanting ions into a surface of the crystal substrate to form a thin film crystal layer, and bonding the crystal substrate and a handle substrate to form a bilayer bonding interface between the crystal substrate and the handle substrate. The method can also include exfoliating the thin film crystal layer from the crystal substrate, patterning the thin film crystal layer to define a deterministic thin film, etching one or more trenches in the thin film crystal layer, etching the bilayer bonding interface via the one or more trenches, and releasing the deterministic thin film from the handle substrate.

Technologies pertaining to a chip with a refractive index gradient, including fabrication thereof, are generally described. The refractive index gradient may be formed by creating atomic scale inclusions throughout a thickness of the chip by inducing nanoporosity into the chip, dissociating and diffusing oxygen into the chip, or performing chemical vapor deposition. One or more integrated circuit (IC) components and optical transceiver devices may be provided by mounting, growing, or etching the IC components and optical transceiver devices at a surface of the chip. The optical transceiver devices may be configured to transmit and/or receive an optical communication signal to and/or from at least one IC component or other optical transceiver device via an optical communication path within the thickness of the chip. The optical communication path may include a direction and distance, within the thickness of the chip, based on the refractive index gradient and angle of incidence.

Disclosed are designs and methods of fabrication of silicon carrier-depletion based electro-optical modulators having doping configurations that produce modulators exhibiting desirable modulation efficiency, optical absorption loss and bandwidth characteristics. The disclosed method of fabrication of a modulator having such doping configurations utilizes counter doping to create narrow regions of relatively high doping levels near a waveguide center.

Disclosed are designs and methods of fabrication of silicon carrier-depletion based electro-optical modulators having doping configurations that produce modulators exhibiting desirable modulation efficiency, optical absorption loss and bandwidth characteristics. The disclosed method of fabrication of a modulator having such doping configurations utilizes counter doping to create narrow regions of relatively high doping levels near a waveguide center.

An optical waveguide termination comprising a light-receiving inlet for receiving light to be terminated, a curved section extending from the inlet and having a continuously decreasing radius of curvature, and a light-terminating tip at an end of the curved section. The curved section may define a spiral waveguide, for example a logarithmic spiral, having a waveguide width that continuously decreases from the inlet to the tip.

An optical waveguide termination comprising a light-receiving inlet for receiving light to be terminated, a curved section extending from the inlet and having a continuously decreasing radius of curvature, and a light-terminating tip at an end of the curved section. The curved section may define a spiral waveguide, for example a logarithmic spiral, having a waveguide width that continuously decreases from the inlet to the tip.

The method for inscribing a waveguide into a media glass substrate generally has the steps of: relatively moving a femtosecond laser beam along a surface of the media glass substrate while maintaining the focus of the laser beam at a depth of less than the surface, wherein the waveguide has a loss of less than 0.2 dB/cm when measured at a wavelength of light signal propagating in the waveguide during normal use of the waveguide. Particularly, the method can have varying writing parameters according to whether the waveguide is single-mode or multi-mode.

A rectangular optical waveguide, an optical phase shifter and an optical modulator each formed of a semiconductor layer are formed on an insulating film constituting an SOI wafer, and then a rear insulating film formed on a rear surface of the SOI wafer is removed. Moreover, a plurality of trenches each having a first depth from an upper surface of the insulating film are formed at a position not overlapping with the rectangular optical waveguide, the optical phase shifter and the optical modulator when seen in a plan view in the insulating film. As a result, since an electric charge can be easily released from the SOI wafer even when the SOI wafer is later mounted on the electrostatic chuck included in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the electric charge is less likely to be accumulated on the rear surface of the SOI wafer.

A beam-steering optical transceiver is provided. The transceiver includes one or more modules, each comprising an antenna chip and a control chip bonded to the antenna chip. Each antenna chip has a feeder waveguide, a plurality of row waveguides that tap off from the feeder waveguide, and a plurality of metallic nanoantenna elements arranged in a two-dimensional array of rows and columns such that each row overlies one of the row waveguides. Each antenna chip also includes a plurality of independently addressable thermo-optical phase shifters, each configured to produce a thermo-optical phase shift in a respective row. Each antenna chip also has, for each row, a row-wise heating circuit configured to produce a respective thermo-optic phase shift at each nanoantenna element along its row. The control chip includes controllable current sources for the independently addressable thermo-optical phase shifters and the row-wise heating circuits.