Provided is an optical communication device, such as a wavelength locker, a wavelength demultiplexer, an optical coupling system, and an optical switching system, using a small-sized lens element. An optical communication device includes, as a lens element, a liquid crystal diffractive lens element having an optically anisotropic layer that is formed using a composition containing a liquid crystal compound, and has a liquid crystal alignment pattern in which an orientation of an optical axis of the liquid crystal compound changes while continuously rotating toward one direction, in a radial shape from an inside toward an outside, and in the liquid crystal alignment pattern, in a case where a length over which the orientation of the optical axis rotates by 180° in one direction in which the optical axis changes is a single period, a length of the single period gradually decreases from the inside toward the outside.

A silicon photonic integrated chip and a wavelength division multiplexer that includes at least two polarization control structures and at least one polarization-independent Mach-Zehnder interferometer on a silicon substrate are provided. The polarization control structure includes two input ports and one output port. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer includes two input ports and one optical signal output port for outputting a multiplexed optical signal. The output ports of the polarization control structures are connected to the input ports of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The polarization control structures have large bandwidths for increasing an optical bandwidth of the wavelength division multiplexer and reducing an optical loss. A quantity of phase shift arms that require tuning feedback is reduced to lower overall power consumption of the wavelength division multiplexer. Reliability and yields of the wavelength division multiplexer are enhanced due to a large manufacturing tolerance and good stability of the polarization control structures.

Various embodiments are directed to systems, apparatus and methods for characterizing evanescent coupling parameters of a waveguide coupled to a resonator through variation of their relative positions. Various embodiments extend a local coupling approach with novel fitting capabilities that robustly determine the bare resonator modes and coupling parameters with quantified residual error and coupling parameter uncertainty estimates.

A robust conjugate symmetric optical apparatus is disclosed. The robust conjugate symmetric optical apparatus comprises a first optical cell set and a second optical cell set. The first optical cell set includes a first plurality of cells, each of which includes a first left half cell and a first right half cell, and the respective first right half cell and the corresponding first left half cells form a first symmetric structure therebetween. The second optical cell set includes a second plurality of cells, each of which includes a second left half cell and a second right half cell, and the respective second right half cell and the corresponding second left half cells form a second symmetric structure therebetween, wherein each of the first left half cells of the first optical cell set and each of the second right half cells of the second optical cell set have the same structure; and each of the first right half cells of the first optical cell set and each of the second left half cells of the second optical cell set have the same structure.

One example system comprises a substrate and a waveguide disposed on the substrate to define an optical path on the substrate. The waveguide is configured to guide, inside the waveguide and along the optical path, a light signal toward an edge of the waveguide. The edge defines an optical interface between the waveguide and a fluidic optical medium adjacent to the edge of the waveguide. The system also includes an optical fluid and a fluid actuator configured to adjust a physical state of the optical fluid based on a control signal. The adjustment of the physical state of the optical fluid causes an adjustment of the fluidic optical medium adjacent to the edge.

A fluid properties sensing system includes an optical sensor which generates a sensor signal based on received laser light, a light source which transmits laser light through a transmitting fiber to a sensor head, a receiver that detects a portion of the laser light from a receiving fiber through an evanescent field of the transmitting fiber when the laser light radiates through a transmitting fiber wall of the transmitting fiber and interacts with a fluid medium at an interface of the sensor and the fluid medium, and a processor. The fibers are coupled at one end through the evanescent field to form the sensor head disposed in a flow field and to interact with the fluid medium. The processor identifies a change in the sensor signal based on a detected portion of the laser light resulting from an interaction of the sensor head with the fluid medium.

A wavelength converter includes an optical waveguide substrate configured to include a plurality of optical waveguides formed with different design values, an incidence-side optical fiber from which signal light and excitation light are incident to the optical waveguide substrate, and an emission-side optical fiber to which light including converted light having a wavelength different from a wavelength of the signal light is extracted from the optical waveguide substrate, wherein the incidence-side optical fiber and the emission-side optical fiber are optically coupled to one optical waveguide among the plurality of optical waveguides.

A slope gain equalizer that corrects a slope of a gain characteristic of an optical signal in a predetermined wavelength bandwidth. An interference filter, which allows insertion losses in a predetermined wavelength region to be inclined in opposite directions between a transmitting direction and a reflecting direction from a short wavelength side to a long wavelength side, is arranged between a dual-core fiber collimator and a single-core fiber collimator facing each other on an optical axis. An optical signal of a predetermined bandwidth inputted from a first or second optical fiber held by the dual-core fiber collimator is reflected by the interference filter and outputted from the second or the first optical fiber. An optical signal inputted from a third optical fiber held by the first optical fiber or the single-core fiber collimator is transmitted through the interference filter and outputted from the third or the first optical fiber.

A slope gain equalizer that corrects a slope of a gain characteristic of an optical signal in a predetermined wavelength bandwidth. An interference filter, which allows insertion losses in a predetermined wavelength region to be inclined in opposite directions between a transmitting direction and a reflecting direction from a short wavelength side to a long wavelength side, is arranged between a dual-core fiber collimator and a single-core fiber collimator facing each other on an optical axis. An optical signal of a predetermined bandwidth inputted from a first or second optical fiber held by the dual-core fiber collimator is reflected by the interference filter and outputted from the second or the first optical fiber. An optical signal inputted from a third optical fiber held by the first optical fiber or the single-core fiber collimator is transmitted through the interference filter and outputted from the third or the first optical fiber.

An optical coupling device is described herein. The optical coupling device comprises a first waveguide and a second waveguide that are formed on a common substrate, and a resonator that is positioned out of plane with the two waveguides. The resonator and waveguides are positioned such that light traveling in each of the waveguides evanescently couples to the resonator but not to the other of the waveguides. The optical coupling device can be used in connection with improving linewidth of a laser source for a lidar sensor. In another example, the optical coupling device can be used in connection with wavelength division multiplexing.