Embodiments described herein may be related to optical devices and apparatuses directed to forming waveguides and optical phase modulators that enable high baud rate modulation. In one embodiment, an optical phase modulator includes: photonic optical waveguides having their cladding regions and electrical contacts formed by material with its absolute permittivity near zero (ENZ), and their waveguide core region formed by electro-optical (EO) material or silicon PN junction whose optical refractive index changes with strength of externally applied electrical field. The ENZ material described herein further possesses properties of both optical transparency at operating wavelength and electrical conductivity. The ENZ claddings and electrodes may further have dimensions to enable high externally applied electrical field within waveguide core. The EO material described herein includes but not limited to organic polymers, LiNbO.sub.3, liquid crystals. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

A silicon-on-insulator chip including an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and an array of detector remodulators (DRMs) in a planar arrangement with the AWG such that the modulators or modulators and detectors of said DRMs are located within the same plane as the waveguides of the AWG; and wherein each DRM is located at an input or output of the AWG.

A spectrometer includes a one or more Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs), which have output waveguides which are non-uniformly spaced at the output slab and/or with different passband widths. AWGs can be cascaded, each receiving a different portion of the spectrum passing through an upstream AWG, for further processing and/or detection.

A sensor for sensing a substance such as for example glucose. The sensor is implantable in the body of a living creature. The sensor has a photonic integrated circuit, e.g. silicon-photonics integrated circuit, for spectrally processing radiation interacting with the sample. A continuous monitoring system can also include such a sensor.

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.

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.

An optical transceiver may include pairs of lasers, each laser of a particular pair generating light at the same wavelength and each pair of lasers generating light at different wavelengths. The light from the lasers may be demultiplexed onto a pair of outputs, with each output receiving light from different lasers of each pair of lasers.

According to various embodiments, there is provided an optical device including: a waveguide configured to propagate an electromagnetic wave, the waveguide including a first grating and further including a second grating; a first further waveguide including a first further grating, the first further waveguide having a first width, wherein the first further grating is coupled to the first grating to form a first pair of coupled gratings, wherein a grating period of the first further grating is at least substantially equal to a grating period of the first grating; a second further waveguide including a second further grating, the second further waveguide having a second width, wherein the second further grating is coupled to the second grating to form a second pair of coupled gratings, wherein a grating period of the second further grating is at least substantially equal to a grating period of the second grating.

A spectrometer includes a one or more Arrayed Waveguide Gratings (AWGs), which have output waveguides which are non-uniformly spaced at the output slab and/or with different passband widths. AWGs can be cascaded, each receiving a different portion of the spectrum passing through an upstream AWG, for further processing and/or detection.

An assembly of waveguide wavelength multiplexers and demultiplexers, together with continuous wave (CW) laser transmitters that interface to grating couplers on a silicon photonics chip, providing CW sources, multiplexed output and optionally multiplexed input, all using a single photonic lightwave circuit (PLC).