An optical switching apparatus includes an input port, a dispersion component, a first filter, a redirection component, and output ports. The input port enables a first and a second beam to be incident onto the dispersion component, which decomposes the first and the second beams respectively into a plurality of first and second sub-beams, where the plurality of first sub-beams and second sub-beams belong to different bands. The first filter separates transmission directions of the plurality of first and second sub-beams into different transmission directions in a first direction (X) based on the different bands, enables the plurality of first and second sub-beams respectively to be incident onto a first area and a second area of the redirection component, where the first and second areas are separated in the first direction.

Microring resonators are devices that includes a set of waveguides that guide light, where at least one of the waveguides is a closed loop that operates to increase an intensity of the light over each round-trip. Microring resonators can be configured to operate as light filters and/or light modulators, and have application, for example, in the field of optical communication technology. Due to temperature sensitivity of microring resonators, however, a heating device is needed to maintain a microring resonator at a desired temperature. The present disclosure provides a microring resonator heating device that includes at least two coaxially arranged contacts providing radial current flow to heat the microring resonator.

Examples described herein relate to an optical device having a photonic-crystal lattice structure. In some examples, the optical device may include a substrate having a photonic-crystal lattice structure. The optical device may further include an optical waveguide formed in the photonic-crystal lattice structure and a defect cavity formed in the photonic-crystal lattice structure and optically coupled to the optical waveguide. Furthermore, the optical device may include a refractive index tuning structure adjacent to the defect cavity in the photonic-crystal lattice structure.

An approach for realizing low-power, high-port-count optical switching systems, such as OXCs, WXCs, and ROADMs is presented. Optical switching systems in accordance with the present disclosure include arrangements of frequency-filter blocks, each of which includes a cascaded arrangement of tunable couplers and tunable Mach-Zehnder Interferometers (MZIs) that provides a substantially flat-top broadband transfer function for the frequency-filter block. The tunability for these devices is achieved by operatively coupling a low-power-dissipation phase controller, such as a stress-optic phase controller or liquid-crystal-based phase controller with one arm of the device, thereby enabling control over the coupling coefficient of the device.

An on-chip interferometer and a spectrometer including the interferometer are provided. An on-chip interferometer includes a waveguide for propagation of an optical signal including an input waveguide; at least two interferometer arms having one or more slot waveguides; and an output waveguide; wherein the input waveguide is split into the at least two interferometer arms which are recombined into the output waveguide; and a control mechanism configured for controlling a relative time delay between optical signals propagating in the two interferometer arms by modifying one or more slot widths of one or more of the slot waveguides; and wherein the relative time delay is at least 1, 2, 5, or at least 10 fs or at least one optical period of the longest optical wavelength of the optical signal.

Disclosed is a photodetector with a resonant waveguide structure, including: a substrate; a light absorption layer located on the substrate and configured for detecting an optical signal; a resonant waveguide structure including a first waveguide portion and a second waveguide portion spaced apart; the first waveguide portion receives the optical signal and transmits the received optical signal to a first region of the second waveguide portion, the second waveguide portion includes a second region for coupling the optical signal to the light absorption layer, and the second waveguide portion provides a circular transmission path for transmission of the optical signal to transmit the optical signal that transmitted to the first region to the second region along part of the circular transmission path and retransmit the optical signal that flows through the second region without being coupled to the light absorption layer to the second region along the circular transmission path.

An optical communication system that includes terminals that operate with different, widely separated wavelengths in which a terminal in the system may be configured to function in both a first operational mode and in a second operational mode. For example, a terminal according to the techniques of this disclosure may communicate with full duplex communication by transmitting a first optical wavelength and receiving a second optical wavelength while in the first operational mode. The same terminal may be reconfigured to transmit the second optical wavelength and receive the first optical wavelength while in the second operational mode. In some examples, the terminal may be located in a spacecraft, such as an orbiting satellite or other vehicle, and may communicate with other terminals such as airborne terminals, terminals located at ground station on the Earth's surface, or with terminals located in other spacecraft.

A spectroscope using single-photon counters and a chip-integrated lithium niobate micro-ring filter to measure the atmospheric CO2 absorption spectrum passively is disclosed. By thermo-optically sweeping the filter over 150 pm and referencing the resulting photon counts to a bypass channel, the absorption spectrum can be sampled at an ultrahigh-resolution of 6 pm. The spectroscope can be a part of a ground-based field system, wherein the CO2 absorption through the atmosphere can be characterized by counting the solar photons across the absorption line around 1572.02 nm, which agrees well with its transmission spectrum at standard atmospheric pressure.

In the wavelength selective fiber optic switch, an optical fiber with a portion of cladding removed defines a window facilitating access to the radially evanescent field present when optical power is propagating through the optical fiber, defining a first transmission path. The cladding removed optical fiber, a secondary optical waveguide, and a grating structure form a grating assisted coupler. An adjustable positioning fixture changes the relative spacing of the fiber core, grating, and output waveguide between a decoupled position and a coupled position. The switch operates, in the decoupled position, to allow optical power to propagate unperturbed through the first transmission path, including optical power at said optical wavelength, and in the coupled position, to extract and reroute optical power at the optical wavelength to propagate through the second transmission path, while leaving unperturbed other wavelengths propagating through the first transmission path. A tuning mechanism is implemented that alters the periodic properties of the grating to tune to a desired optical wavelength.

A semiconductor arrangement is provided and includes a first dielectric layer over an optical device. A first metallization layer is over the first dielectric layer, and a first conductive line is in the first metallization layer. A first conductive via is in the first metallization layer and contacts the first conductive line. A second metallization layer is over the first metallization layer. A second conductive line is in the second metallization layer and contacts the first conductive via at a first interface. A heater is over the optical device and has a lowermost surface below the first interface and an uppermost surface above the first interface.