A method of adjusting the parallelism of a surface of a block of optical fibers with a surface of a semiconductor chip or wafer laid on an XY table, including the steps of: a) providing a sensor rigidly attached to the XY table and a handling arm supporting the block, said surface facing the XY table; b) for each of three non-aligned points of the surface of the block, displacing with respect to each other the XY table and the block in the X and/or Y directions to place the sensor opposite the point, and estimating, with the sensor, the distance along the Z direction between the point and the sensor; and c) modifying the orientation of the block by means of the handling arm to provide the desired parallelism.

Optical alignment of optical subassembly and optoelectronic device is achieved using an external source and an external receiver, passing optical signal through a passive waveguide in the optoelectronic device, via alignment reflective surface features provided on the optical subassembly. The optical subassembly is provided with a first alignment reflective surface directing alignment signal from the source to a grating coupler at the input of the waveguide, and a second alignment reflective surface directing to the receiver the alignment signal directed from a grating coupler at the output of the waveguide after the alignment signal has been transmitted from the input to the output through the waveguide. By adjusting the relative position between the optical subassembly and the optoelectronic device, and detecting the maximum optical power of the alignment signal reflected from the second alignment reflective surface, the position of best optical alignment of the optical subassembly and the optoelectronic device can be determined.

A silicon waveguide coupling alignment apparatus includes a fine adjustment bracket, a stress releasing clamp and a silicon photonic integrated chip force sensor. A silicon photonic integrated chip is fixed on the silicon photonic integrated chip force sensor, at least a part of an optical fiber to be coupled is fixed on one end of the stress releasing clamp, the stress releasing clamp is arranged on the fine adjustment bracket, an end surface of the optical fiber to be coupled is aligned with an end surface of the silicon photonic integrated chip by adjusting a position of the fine adjustment bracket, and a cushioning mechanism is arranged within the stress releasing clamp to cushion a collision force in a direction perpendicular to the end surface of the optical fiber to be coupled. The contact force imposed by the optical fiber on the end surface of the chip can be released by the clamp.

A system including a device configured to be partially inside of a target object (and to remain affixed to such object substantially irremovably and in an unchanged orientation with respect to such object at least on a time-scale comparable to term of life or use of the target object itself) to provide chronic access to an internal object location from an outside location and communication with such location along multiple communication channels that are spatially separate and substantially immovable with respect to one another while remaining moveable together and synchronously with the object. Delivery of electromagnetic energy and a material stimulus along the first and second communication channels is carried out such as to necessarily maintain unchanged mutual spatial positioning and orientation between the channels regardless of whether the channels are being used or not and regardless of whether the target objecttogether with these channelsis spatially repositioned.

An optical assembly for realizing horizontal and vertical spot-size conversion to couple light from a thin waveguide to a thick waveguide is disclosed. The assembly comprises at least one first thin waveguide with a first section having a first optical mode field and a horizontal spot-size expansion section providing spot-size conversion for a first horizontal dimension of said first optical mode field of a light beam propagating in said first waveguide, and at least one second thick waveguide with a second section having a second optical mode field and a horizontal spot-size reduction section providing spot-size conversion for a second horizontal dimension of said second optical mode field of a light beam propagating in said second waveguide. The expanded end of said first waveguide is aligned and rotated to interface with the reduced end of said second waveguide, so that the mode fields in said first and second waveguides are rotated 90 degrees with respect to each other, whereby the spot size of a light beam so coupled between the first and second waveguides is expanded or shrunk in both transverse dimensions, depending on the direction of the light beam.

Methods and systems for optical alignment to a silicon photonically-enabled integrated circuit may include aligning an optical assembly to a photonics die comprising a transceiver by, at least, communicating optical signals from the optical assembly into a plurality of grating couplers in the photonics die, communicating the one or more optical signals from the plurality of grating couplers to optical taps, with each tap having a first output coupled to the transceiver and a second output coupled to a corresponding output grating coupler, and monitoring an output optical signal communicated out of said photonic chip via said output grating couplers. The monitored output optical signal may be maximized by adjusting a position of the optical assembly. The optical assembly may include an optical source assembly comprising one or more lasers or the optical assembly may comprise a fiber array. Such a fiber array may include single mode optical fibers.

The invention relates to a wafer prober including an optical waveguide, the optical waveguide having a first optical coupling end segment with a first optical coupling surface being devoid of cladding. The first optical coupling end segment being configured to provide an adiabatic optical coupling to a second optical coupling end segment of a second optical waveguide of a photonic integrated circuit on a semiconductor wafer when the optical waveguide is aligned with respect to the semiconductor wafer according to a set of alignment requirements. The second optical coupling end segment having a second optical coupling surface that is devoid of cladding. The second optical coupling surface is parallel to a wafer surface of the semiconductor wafer. An alignment system configured to align the optical waveguide with respect to the semiconductor wafer according to the set of alignment requirements.

A detector configuration for use in a free space optical (FSO) node for transmitting and/or receiving optical signals has a plurality of sensors for detecting received optical signals. The system may be configured to modify or alter the light at the plurality of sensor to optimize different system functions.

An optical waveguide module includes an optical waveguide sheet including multiple optical waveguides, and a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device each positioned over a surface of the optical waveguide sheet. At least one of the optical waveguides includes a first mirror, a second mirror, and a slit. The first mirror is configured to reflect light entering the corresponding optical waveguide from its first end to the light-receiving device or to reflect light emitted from the light-emitting device toward the first end of the corresponding optical waveguide. The second mirror is configured to reflect light entering the corresponding optical waveguide from its second end toward the surface of the optical waveguide sheet. The slit is provided between the second mirror and the second end of the corresponding optical waveguide. The corresponding optical waveguide is discontinuous across the slit.

Disclosed are an apparatus and associated method and computer-readable medium for connecting a fiber array connector (FAC) with a photonic subassembly comprising a plurality of waveguides with a predetermined disposition relative to a top surface of a substrate. A plurality of optical fibers extend to a first surface of the FAC. The method comprises moving, using a positioning device, the FAC from a first position in which the first surface is seated against a second surface of the photonic subassembly to a second position such that the first surface has a predetermined distance from the second surface. The method further comprises performing, using the positioning device, an active alignment of the plurality of optical fibers with the plurality of waveguides, and applying, using an application device, an adhesive to form a physical interface between at least two opposing surfaces of the photonic subassembly and the FAC.