An optical scan device includes an optical waveguide array, including a plurality of optical waveguides each of which propagates light along a first direction, that emits a light beam, the plurality of optical waveguides being arranged in a second direction that intersects the first direction, a phase shifter array including a plurality of phase shifters connected separately to each of the plurality of optical waveguides, a control circuit that controls a phase shift amount of each of the plurality of phase shifters and/or inputting of light to each of the plurality of phase shifters and thereby controls a direction and shape of the light beam that is emitted from the optical waveguide array, a photodetector that detects the light beam reflected by a physical object, and a signal processing circuit that generates distance distribution data on the basis of output from the photodetector.

Photonic chip includes an external cavity (EC) optical circuit to provide wavelength-selective optical feedback to a length of active optical fiber. Light generated in the active optical fiber may be coupled from the EC circuit to a light processing circuit of the photonic chip, such as an optical modulator or an optical mixer. The EC circuits may include single-frequency and multi-frequency optical filters, which may include ring resonators, dual-ring resonators, and optical modulators to support multi-frequency lasers. The EC circuits may further include pump combiners and optical isolators.

An optical element including a plurality of first circuits, the optical element includes a first cascade circuit in which one or more of first circuits are connected in cascade, a second cascade circuit in which one or more of first circuits are connected in cascade, and a combiner circuit configured to connect the first cascade circuit and the second cascade circuit. A first circuit included in the plurality of first circuits includes a first cascade structure in which N (N is an integer of 1 or larger) of 2-input and 2-output phase shifters and (N+1) of 2-input and 2-output couplers are alternately connected in cascade, and a first controller configured to control the N phase shifters in a direction in which optical input power decreases, the first controller being connected to one of two outputs of the first cascade structure.

An optical input polarization management device includes a polarization splitter and rotator (PSR) that directs a portion of incoming light having a first polarization through a first optical waveguide (OW). The PSR rotates a portion of the incoming light having a second polarization to the first polarization so as to provide polarization-rotated light. The PSR directs the polarization-rotated light through a second OW. Light within the first and second OW's is input to a first two-by-two optical splitter (2×2OS). A first phase shifter (PS) is interfaced with either the first or second OW. Light is output from the first 2×2OS into a third OW and a fourth OW. Light within the third and fourth OW's is input to a second 2×2OS. A second PS is interfaced with either the third or fourth OW. Light is output from the second 2×2OS into a fifth OW for further processing.

The present disclosure is directed to light-distribution systems on photonic integrated circuits (PIC) that split and amplify a light signal received from at least one remotely located laser into a plurality of amplified light signals, where amplification is provided by an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). By locating the laser remotely with respect to the SOA-based PIC, the laser and PIC can be subjected to different ambient environmental conditions. Additionally, a lower-power laser can be used since the optical loss associated with splitting is compensated for by the amplification. As a result, lower current densities and optical powers can be used in both the source laser and the SOA. In some embodiments, the sequence of power splitting and amplification is repeated multiple times, thereby enabling system to scale gracefully.

An optical filter device may include an optical waveguide having an input and an output, and a plurality of first optical resonators optically coupled to the optical waveguide along a length thereof between the input and the output. The optical filter device may further include at least one second optical resonator optically coupled to the plurality of first optical resonators opposite the optical waveguide.

An optical sensor arrangement for measuring an observable, the arrangement including an optical resonance circuit including at least a first and a second optical resonator, each of the optical resonators including an entry port for coupling light into the optical resonator and a drop port for decoupling light from the optical resonator. The first and second resonator are configured such that only a portion of the first and second resonator detects the presence of the observable, a size of the portion of the first resonator being different from a size of the portion of the second resonator. The optical resonance circuit further configured to be coupled to a light generation circuit and to a detector unit for detecting light.

An electro-optical chip includes an optical input port, an optical output port, and an optical waveguide having a first end optically connected to the optical input port and a second end optically connected to the optical output port. The optical waveguide includes one or more segments. Different segments of the optical waveguide extends in either a horizontal direction, a vertical direction, a direction between horizontal and vertical, or a curved direction. The electro-optical chip also includes a plurality of optical microring resonators is positioned along at least one segment of the optical waveguide. Each microring resonator of the plurality of optical microring resonators is optically coupled to a different location along the optical waveguide. The electro-optical chip also includes electronic circuitry for controlling a resonant wavelength of each microring resonator of the plurality of optical microring resonators.

An electronic module is provided. The electronic module includes a carrier, a movable component and an optical component. The movable component is on the carrier and configured to be movable with respect to the carrier. The optical component is configured to detect a movement of the movable component by an optical coupling between the optical component and the movable component.

An optical transmitter includes: a set of reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) or other reflective gain media, a set of ring filters, a set of intermediate waveguides, a shared waveguide, a shared loop mirror, and an output waveguide. Each intermediate waveguide channels light from an RSOA in proximity to an associated ring filter to cause optically coupled light to circulate in the associated ring filter. The shared waveguide is coupled to the shared loop mirror, and is located in proximity to the set of ring filters, so that light circulating in each ring filter causes optically coupled light to flow in the shared waveguide. Each RSOA forms a lasing cavity with the shared loop reflector, wherein each lasing cavity has a different wavelength associated with a resonance of its associated ring filter. The output waveguide is optically coupled to the shared loop mirror and includes an electro-optical modulator.