An athermal optical waveguide structure such as an optical add drop multiplexer (OADM) or the like is fabricated by a method that includes forming a lower cladding layer on a substrate. A waveguiding core layer is formed on the lower cladding layer. An upper cladding layer is formed on the waveguiding core layer and the lower cladding layer a sol-gel material. The sol-gel material includes an organically modified siloxane and a metal oxide. A thermo-optic coefficient of the sol-gel material is adjusted by curing the sol-gel material for a selected duration of time at a selected temperature such that the thermo-optic coefficient of the sol-gel material compensates for a thermo-optic coefficient of at least the waveguiding core layer such that an effective thermo-optic coefficient of the optical waveguide structure at a specified optical wavelength and over a specified temperature range is reduced.

Disclosed is a structure (e.g., a lab-on-chip structure) including a substrate, an insulator layer on the substrate, and at least one optical ring resonator. Each ring resonator includes cladding material on the insulator layer and, embedded within the cladding material, a first waveguide core with an input and an output, and second waveguide core(s) (e.g., ring waveguide core(s)) positioned laterally adjacent to the first waveguide core. A reservoir is below the ring resonator within the insulator layer and substrate such that surfaces of the waveguide cores are exposed within the reservoir. During a sensing operation, the waveguide core surfaces contact with fluid within the reservoir and a light signal at the output of the first waveguide core is monitored (e.g., by a sensing circuit, which in some embodiments is also coupled to a reference optical ring resonator) and used, for example, for spectrum-based target identification and, optionally, characterization.

An optoelectronic circuit used with signal light comprises photonic devices disposed on a platform. The photonic devices are configured to condition the signal light and are fabricated with an optical characteristic being electronically tunable. A fabricated performance of the optical characteristic can be varied from a target performance due to a difference (e.g., alteration, change, error, or discrepancy) in the process used to fabricate the device. A ground bus, a power bus, and banks of electronic components are disposed on the platform in electrical communication with the photonic devices. The electronic components in a given bank are selectively configurable to tune the optical characteristic of the associated device so a variance can be diminished between the fabrication and target performances of the device's optical characteristic due to the difference in the fabrication process.

Disclosed is a structure (e.g., a lab-on-chip structure) including a substrate, an insulator layer on the substrate, and at least one optical ring resonator. Each ring resonator includes cladding material on the insulator layer and, embedded within the cladding material, a first waveguide core with an input and an output, and second waveguide core(s) (e.g., ring waveguide core(s)) positioned laterally adjacent to the first waveguide core. A reservoir is below the ring resonator within the insulator layer and substrate such that surfaces of the waveguide cores are exposed within the reservoir. During a sensing operation, the waveguide core surfaces contact with fluid within the reservoir and a light signal at the output of the first waveguide core is monitored (e.g., by a sensing circuit, which in some embodiments is also coupled to a reference optical ring resonator) and used, for example, for spectrum-based target identification and, optionally, characterization.

Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to photon-pair sources based on an external-cavity laser comprising a gain element and a planar-lightwave circuit that includes a surface-waveguide-based mirror and a ring resonator that enables four-wave mixing, where the surface-waveguide mirror and the ring resonator reside within the gain cavity of the laser itself. As a result, photon-pair sources in accordance with the present disclosure can have: (1) a larger free-spectral range for the entire laser cavity to enable generation of a single wavelength to realize single-mode operation without additional stabilization; and (2) low laser noise, thereby enabling detection and use of the generated photon pairs.

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.

An electro-optic receiver includes a polarization splitter and rotator (PSR) that directs incoming light having a first polarization through a first end of an optical waveguide, and that rotates incoming light from a second polarization to the first polarization to create polarization-rotated light that is directed to a second end of the optical waveguide. The incoming light of the first polarization and the polarization-rotated light travel through the optical waveguide in opposite directions. A plurality of ring resonators is optically coupled the optical waveguide. Each ring resonator is configured to operate at a respective resonant wavelength, such that the incoming light of the first polarization having the respective resonant wavelength optically couples into said ring resonator in a first propagation direction, and such that the polarization-rotated light having the respective resonant wavelength optically couples into said ring resonator in a second propagation direction opposite the first propagation direction.

Silicon photonics provides an attractive platform for optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs) exploiting hybrid or monolithic integration with or without concurrent integration of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and/or CMOS electronic. Such OEICs offering optical component solutions across multiple applications from optical sensors through to optical networks operating upon one or more wavelengths. Accordingly, various silicon photonic building blocks are required in order to provide a toolkit for a circuit designer to exploit OEICs where these building blocks must address specific aspects of OEICs such as polarisation dependency of the optical waveguides. Accordingly, the inventors have established designs for: polarisation rotators with MEMS based tuning to allow the dual polarisations from a polarisation splitter to be managed by an OEIC operating upon a single polarisation; analog or digital phase shifts with MEMS actuation for switches, attenuators etc.; and passband filters with MEMS tuning.

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.

A silicon photonics element including an optical element that has no self-luminescent capability, a first optical waveguide that connects the optical element to an outside of the silicon photonics element, a ring resonator optically connected to the first optical waveguide and located proximate to the first optical waveguide, and a second optical waveguide optically connected to the ring resonator and located proximate to the ring resonator. The first optical waveguide includes a first end surface connected to the outside of the silicon photonics element, and the second optical waveguide includes a second end surface connected to the outside of the silicon photonics element.