Structures for a thermo-optic phase shifter and methods of forming such structures. The structure comprises a waveguide structure including a waveguide core. The structure further comprises a silicide layer, a first dielectric layer arranged in a lateral direction between the silicide layer and the waveguide core, and a second dielectric layer positioned over the waveguide core, the silicide layer, and the first dielectric layer. The first dielectric layer comprises a first material having a first thermal conductivity, and the second dielectric layer comprises a second material having a second thermal conductivity that is less than the first thermal conductivity.

An apparatus that includes one or more electrical or optical I/O ports that interface to external communication equipment, one or more optical ports that interface to an optical transport network that carries wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) optical signals, one or more tunable optical transceivers, and packet switching logic. The apparatus is configured to perform packet processing operations for ingress and egress data frames or packets. The apparatus can further include control circuitry that can take part in an automatic provisioning process that configures the tunable optical transceiver units of the network device, specifically configuring the optical channels/wavelengths of the optical signals that are transmitted by the tunable optical transceivers. The apparatus can also implement a method of processing and/or managing the optical channels/wavelengths of the optical signals that are transmitted by the tunable optical transceivers based upon the destination address of ingress data frames or packets. Multiple units can interface to the optical transport network for communication of optical packet data between the units over the optical transport network as described herein.

Provided is an optical waveguide circuit avoiding the difficulty of the property compensation based on temperature control, compensated with respect to the property variations due to fabrication error, particularly paid attention in a silicon waveguide, and being low in power consumption and high in performances. The optical waveguide circuit includes a silicon (Si) substrate, a buried oxide film (BOX) layer formed on the Si substrate, and an SOI (Silicon on Insulator) layer, formed on the BOX layer, including an optical element utilizing the SOI layer as a main optical transmission medium. At least part of a waveguide of the optical element includes uniformly distributed and thermally unstable crystal defects.

The wavelength response of an arrayed waveguide grating can be tuned, in accordance with various embodiments, using a beam sweeper including one or more heaters to shift a lateral position of light focused by the beam sweeper at an interface of the beam sweeper with an input free propagation region of the arrayed waveguide grating.

An arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer/demultiplexer includes an array of optical waveguides ordered in sequence from a shortest waveguide up to a longest waveguide, and identical phase shifters configured to be controlled by a same control signal. Each phase shifter increases/decreases an optical path of an optical waveguide by the same quantity based on the control control signal.

Embodiments of the invention describe systems, apparatuses and methods for providing athermicity and a tunable spectral response for optical filters. Finite impulse response (FIR) filters are commonly implemented in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to make devices such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices, asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers (AMZIs) and array waveguide gratings (AWGs). Athermicity of an FIR filter describes maintaining a consistent frequency transmission spectrum as the ambient temperature changes. A tunable spectral response for an FIR filter describes changing the spectrum of an FIR filter based on its application, as well as potentially correcting for fabrication deviations from the design. In addition, embodiments of the invention reduce energy dissipation requirements and control complexity compared to prior art solutions.

Embodiments of the invention describe systems, apparatuses and methods for providing athermicity and a tunable spectral response for optical filters. Finite impulse response (FIR) filters are commonly implemented in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to make devices such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices, asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers (AMZIs) and array waveguide gratings (AWGs). Athermicity of an FIR filter describes maintaining a consistent frequency transmission spectrum as the ambient temperature changes. A tunable spectral response for an FIR filter describes changing the spectrum of an FIR filter based on its application, as well as potentially correcting for fabrication deviations from the design. In addition, embodiments of the invention reduce energy dissipation requirements and control complexity compared to prior art solutions.

Disclosed is a thermal stabilization circuit including a heater, which is adjacent and thermally coupled to a closed-curve waveguide of an optical ring resonator, and an analog feedback circuit, which includes a fully autonomous analog feedback loop from a drop port of a bus waveguide of the optical ring resonator to the heater. This analog feedback circuit is configured to dynamically control the electrical power provided to the heater and, thereby to dynamically control the thermal output of the heater in order to tune the ring resonance wavelength to the operating laser wavelength. The analog feedback circuit is further configured to be independent of input power, to be power efficient, to have a relatively small footprint, to have a tunable time constant and to facilitate adjustable wavelength locking. Also disclosed is a device (e.g., a ring-based transceiver or the like), which includes multiple optical ring resonators and corresponding thermal stabilization circuits.

An arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer/demultiplexer includes an array of optical waveguides ordered in sequence from a shortest waveguide up to a longest waveguide, and identical phase shifters configured to be controlled by a same control signal. Each phase shifter increases/decreases an optical path of an optical waveguide by the same quantity based on the control control signal.

Athermal arrayed waveguide grating structure that may operate as an optical filter including an input Silicon (Si) slab waveguide, an output Si slab waveguide, the input Si slab waveguide and the output Si slab waveguide optically connected by an arrayed group of Silicon Nitride (SiN) grating waveguides. Temperature insensitivity of the structure is achieved by locating output waveguide(s) of the Si output slab waveguide at/within a 10-degree angle offset from the center line of the output Si slab waveguide.