An apparatus such as an optical modulator includes a buried oxide layer is disposed on a substrate. A microring resonator and an optical waveguide are disposed on the buried oxide layer and within a bonded semiconductor layer. The optical waveguide is optically coupled to the microring resonator and inputs a first optical wave into the microring resonator. An oxide layer is deposited on top of the optical waveguide and the microring resonator. A set of electrodes is disposed adjacent to the microring resonator, and in response to an electrical signal, the set of electrodes modulates the first optical wave into a modulated optical wave of transverse magnetic polarization within the microring resonator and outputs the modulated optical wave to the optical waveguide.

The photonic integrated device for converting a light signal into sound comprises-a substrate having a substrate surface, an optical waveguide on the substrate surface, a photo-acoustic conversion body, comprising at least one volume of fractionally light absorbing material or formed entirely of fractionally light absorbing material, wherein a width of the photo-acoustic conversion body is greater than a width of the optical waveguide and means for enhancing distribution of light from the optical waveguide over the photo-acoustic conversion body.

An integrated circuit includes an electronic circuit. The integrated circuit further includes a photonic device. The photonic device includes a first photodetector (PD) electrically connected to the electronic circuit. The photonic device further includes a second PD electrically connected to the electronic circuit. The photonic device further includes a first waveguide configured to receive an optical signal input, wherein the first waveguide is optically connected to the first PD. The photonic device further includes a second waveguide optically connected to the second PD. The photonic device further includes a resonant structure between the first waveguide and the second waveguide, wherein the resonant structure is configured to optically couple the first waveguide to the second waveguide.

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.

Waveguide shuffle blocks (WSBs) are provided that may incorporate waveguides routed in any pattern to effectuate many-to-many connectivity between optical cables/fibers or other WSBs connected thereto. Such WSBs may be configured in ways that allow the WSBs to be stacked and to achieve effective optical cable/fiber organization. Moreover, such WSBs may include readable tags that can provide information regarding a particular WSB configuration and/or what optical cables/fibers are connected so that network topology can be discovered and monitored. Some WSBs may be configured as wavelength shifting shuffles (WSSs) that allow a particular wavelength(s) of an optical signal(s) to be routed as desired and/or alter a first wavelength associated with a particular optical signal to a second wavelength. In other embodiments WSSs can be configured to allow for wavelength multiplexing/demultiplexing.

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 filter includes a first loop mirror, a second loop mirror, a first waveguide optically coupled to the first loop mirror and the second loop mirror, a second waveguide optically coupled to the first loop mirror and the second loop mirror, a first access waveguide optically coupled to the first waveguide, a second access waveguide optically coupled to the second waveguide, and an output section, wherein the first loop mirror includes a first loop waveguide and a first multiplexer/demultiplexer, the second loop mirror includes a second loop waveguide and a second multiplexer/demultiplexer, the output section includes a third loop waveguide, a third multiplexer/demultiplexer, a third waveguide, and a fourth waveguide, the third loop waveguide optically coupled to the second loop waveguide and the third multiplexer/demultiplexer, the third waveguide and the fourth waveguide optically coupled to the third multiplexer/demultiplexer, and the output section.

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.

An optical logic gate decision-making circuit that combines non-linear materials, such as silicon nitride, on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate is described. Circuitry includes a ring cavity coupled to an input optical bus waveguide. The input optical bus waveguide receives an optical signal and passes the optical signal to the ring cavity. An electro-optical device, for instance a PN junction, is integrated within the ring cavity to modulate the optical signal such that an optical logic gate function is enabled. An output optical bus waveguide is also coupled to the ring cavity, which outputs the optical signal modified based on the optical logic gate function and based on a wavelength routing function. By using silicon nitride, the optical non-linearity of the materials enables an “all-optical” logic gate. Thus, the optical logic gate decision-making circuit is suitable for all-optical circuits, and support ultrafast optical signal processing and enabling packet switching of data.

A photonic system enabling the processing of high frequency microwave, mm-wave, THz signals or other RF signals. The processing may include, e.g., adjusting the frequency, quadrature, and/or power of the signals. In illustrative examples, the system uses a polychromatic light source producing at least two low noise optical emission frequencies that can be independently tuned in a broad frequency range and/or modulated in a broad frequency range using external modulators. An RF input signal is upconverted to one of the optical harmonics of the modulated polychromatic source, processed in the optical frequency domain, and downconverted to the RF domain (at the same or a different RF carrier frequency). The photonic system can be integrated on a planar optical substrate, such as a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). Optical local oscillators are also described for use in the photonic system or for other purposes. Various system, device, and method examples are provided.