A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) having a substrate in which vertically coupled photodetectors and in-line optical modulators are integrated to enable vertical coupling of light using a fiber assembly block (FAB), with the planar end surface thereof being attached to a substantially planar main surface of the substrate. In an example embodiment, the photodetectors are buried in deep vias formed in the substrate, and the in-line optical modulators are waveguide-connected to the corresponding vertical-coupling optical gratings. The photodetectors and optical gratings may be arranged in a linear array along the main surface of the substrate to enable uncomplicated optical alignment of end segments of the optical fibers in the FAB with the corresponding photodetectors and optical gratings for vertical coupling of light therebetween. In some embodiments, the FAB may have more than one hundred optical fibers. In some embodiments, the PIC can be implemented using the silicon photonics material platform.

The invention relates to a photonic sensor chip comprising a semiconductor substrate with a cavity extending from a back side through an entire depth of the semiconductor substrate, a photonic plane located on the front side of the semiconductor substrate. The chip includes a photonic particle sensor element with an active-surface element having an exposed active surface facing towards the back side of the semiconductor substrate, for capturing selected particles from at least one fluid or gas to which the active surface is exposable. The cavity provides access to the active surface from the back side. The photonic particle sensor element receives an optical input wave via the photonic plane, to expose captured particles on the active-surface element to interaction with the optical input wave and to provide a resulting optical output wave having a spectral component indicative of the interaction between the optical input wave and captured particles.

An apparatus includes a first light source to produce a first reference light, a first pair of arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) to demultiplex a first optical signal and the first reference light, respectively, into multiple first signal beams and multiple first reference beams. A first heterodyne optical detector can mix the multiple first signal beams and the multiple first reference beams to generate first quadrature optical signals. A first pair of photo-detectors can convert the first quadrature optical signals to first in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) electrical signals. The apparatus is implemented as a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) incorporating the first pair of AWGs, the first heterodyne optical detector and the first pair of photo-detectors.

Provided is a waveguide photodetector including a semiconductor substrate, a first optical waveguide and a second optical waveguide, which are sequentially laminated on the semiconductor substrate, in which each of the first optical waveguide and the second optical waveguide includes a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion extends from the second portion in a first direction parallel to a top surface of the semiconductor substrate, a refractive index matching layer disposed on the second portion of the second optical waveguide, a clad layer disposed on the refractive index matching layer, and an absorber disposed between the refractive index matching layer and the clad layer. Here, the second optical waveguide has a first conductive-type, the clad layer has a second conductive-type opposite to the first conductive-type, and the refractive index matching layer includes a first semiconductor layer that is an intrinsic semiconductor layer.

Aspects relate to a photonic processing system, an integrated circuit, and a method of operating an integrated circuit to control components to modulate optical signals. A photonic processing system, comprising: a photonic integrated circuit comprising: a first electrically-controllable photonic component electrically coupling an input pin to a first output pin; and a second electrically-controllable photonic component electrically coupling the input pin to a second output pin.

An optical beam steering device is provided that includes an input optical fiber carrying multiple input optical signals, where each input optical signal includes a unique wavelength, an arrayed waveguide grating router (AWGR) having multiple output fibers, where the input optical fiber is connected to the AWGR, distal ends of the output fibers are arranged in a two-dimensional fiber array, the input optical signals are routed by the AWGR according to each unique wavelength to a unique AWGR output fiber, and a lens, where the distal ends of the output fibers are disposed proximal to a focal plane of the lens, where for each unique position of each output fiber distal end with respect to a the lens, each input optical signal is steered at a unique angle as an output beam emitted from the lens, where changing the wavelength of the input optical signal changes the output signal angles.

Multi-chip modules in different semiconductor packages may be optically data coupled by way of LEDs and photodetectors linked by a multicore fiber. The multicore fiber may pass through apertures in the semiconductor packages, with an array of LEDs and photodetectors in the semiconductor package providing and receiving, respectively, optical signals comprised of data passed between the multi-chip modules.

A two-dimensional optical phased array, including a first phased array and a second phased array disposed on the first phased array. The first phased array includes an optical coupler, a beam splitter, a plurality of phase shifters, and a plurality of light-emitting units. The second phased array includes a strip transparent electrode array, a phase shifting medium, and a transparent electrode disposed on the phase shifting medium. The strip transparent electrode array is disposed on the light-emitting units. The phase shifting medium is disposed on the strip transparent electrode array. The light-emitting units is configured to produce a laser beam which is incident to the second phased array via the strip transparent electrode array and emitted via the transparent electrode on the phase shifting medium.

An optical device may comprise a laser configured to generate an optical beam and a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) configured to amplify the optical beam. The MZI may comprise a first coupler and a second coupler connected via a plurality of arms of the MZI. An arm, of the plurality of arms, may provide an optical path for part of the optical beam and may comprise a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) configured to amplify the part of the optical beam and a phase shifter configured to adjust a phase of the part of the optical beam.

Included are a transmitter and a receiver caused to have a constant temperature. The transmitter includes: a semiconductor optical amplifier having a reflection mirror at a first end thereof; an optical waveguide having a first end coupled to a second end of the semiconductor optical amplifier; a wavelength demultiplexing filter having an input port coupled to a second end of the optical waveguide and a plurality of output ports having constant transmission wavelength intervals; reflection structures to reflect part of light output from the output ports, the reflection structures provided for the respective output ports of the wavelength demultiplexing filter; modulators to modulate light transmitted through the reflection structures, the modulators provided for the respective reflection structures; and a wavelength multiplexing filter having input ports coupled to the respective output ends of the modulators, transmission wavelength intervals of the input ports being identical to the transmission wavelength intervals of the wavelength demultiplexing filter, and having the output port coupled to a first end of an optical fiber. The receiver includes: a wavelength demultiplexing filter having an input port coupled to a second end of the optical fiber and a plurality of output ports having the same transmission wavelength intervals as the transmission wavelength intervals of the wavelength demultiplexing filter and an FSR obtained by multiplying the transmission wavelength interval by the number of the output ports; light receivers to receive light output from the output ports, the light receivers provided for the respective output ports of the wavelength demultiplexing filter; and a temperature controller to control the temperature of the wavelength demultiplexing filter.