A radiative heatsink includes a cold plate, a radiator mounted to the cold plate and a thermal compound located between and coupling the heat source to the cold plate. The thermal compound converts a portion of a first phononic thermal energy from the heat source into a first photonic near-field and a first photonic far-field thermal radiation and transfers the first photonic near-field, the first photonic far-field and the remaining of the first phononic thermal energy to the cold plate. The cold plate combines the first photonic near-field, the first photonic far-field and the remaining first phononic thermal energy into a second phononic thermal energy and provides the second phononic thermal energy to the radiator. The radiator converts the second phononic thermal energy into a second photonic near-field and a second photonic far-field and emits the second photonic near-field or the second photonic far-field such that cold plate is regenerated.

A spectroscopic laser sensor based on hybrid III-V/IV system-on-a-chip technology. The laser sensor is configured to either (i) be used with a fiber-optic probe connected to an intravenous/intra-arterial optical catheter for direct invasive blood analyte concentration level measurement or (ii) be used to measure blood analyte concentration level non-invasively through an optical interface attached, e.g., to the skin or fingernail bed of a human. The sensor includes a III-V gain-chip, e.g., an AlGaInAsSb/GaSb based gain-chip, and a photonic integrated circuit, with laser wavelength filtering, laser wavelength tuning, laser wavelength monitoring, laser signal monitoring and signal output sections realized on a chip by combining IV-based semiconductor substrates and flip-chip AlGa1-nAsSb/GaSb based photodetectors and embedded electronics for signal processing. Embodiments of the invention may be applied for real-time monitoring of critical blood analyte concentration levels such as lactates, urea, glucose, ammonia, albumin, etc.

In an optical device, a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer are formed to be thinner than a core, an active layer has a shape with an end in a waveguide direction tapers toward a tip end, the first semiconductor layer having a trapezoidal shape with a width thereof decreases toward a side of a third semiconductor layer from a side of the core in a plan view and a width thereof decreases as one end in the waveguide direction recedes from a central portion of the active region, and the second semiconductor layer having a trapezoidal shape with a width thereof decreases toward a side of a fourth semiconductor layer from the side of the core in a plan view and a width thereof decreases as one end in the waveguide direction recedes from the central portion of the active region.

Building blocks are provided for on-chip chemical sensors and other highly-compact photonic integrated circuits combining interband or quantum cascade lasers and detectors with passive waveguides and other components integrated on a III-V or silicon. A MWIR or LWIR laser source is evanescently coupled into a passive extended or resonant-cavity waveguide that provides evanescent coupling to a sample gas (or liquid) for spectroscopic chemical sensing. In the case of an ICL, the uppermost layer of this passive waveguide has a relatively high index of refraction that enables it to form the core of the waveguide, while the ambient air, consisting of the sample gas, functions as the top cladding layer. A fraction of the propagating light beam is absorbed by the sample gas if it contains a chemical species having a fingerprint absorption feature within the spectral linewidth of the laser emission.

Building blocks are provided for on-chip chemical sensors and other highly-compact photonic integrated circuits combining interband or quantum cascade lasers and detectors with passive waveguides and other components integrated on a III-V or silicon. A MWIR or LWIR laser source is evanescently coupled into a passive extended or resonant-cavity waveguide that provides evanescent coupling to a sample gas (or liquid) for spectroscopic chemical sensing. In the case of an ICL, the uppermost layer of this passive waveguide has a relatively high index of refraction that enables it to form the core of the waveguide, while the ambient air, consisting of the sample gas, functions as the top cladding layer. A fraction of the propagating light beam is absorbed by the sample gas if it contains a chemical species having a fingerprint absorption feature within the spectral linewidth of the laser emission.

A discrete wavelength tunable laser having an optical cavity which comprises: a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA); a demultiplexer (Demux) having a single input and a plurality of outputs, the Demux configured to receive the output of the SOA and to produce a plurality of fixed spectral passbands within the gain bandwidth of the SOA; one or more tunable distributed Bragg reflector(s) (DBR(s)) arranged to receive the outputs of the Demux, each tunable DBR configured to select a reflective spectral band within the gain bandwidth of the SOA upon application of a bias current; wherein the SOA forms the back end mirror of the optical cavity; the one or more tunable DBRs form the front end mirror of the optical cavity; and wherein the lasing channel of the discrete wavelength tunable laser is chosen by the overlap of the selected reflective spectral band of one of the one or more tunable DBRs with a fixed spectral passband of the Demux.

A discrete wavelength tunable laser having an optical cavity which comprises: a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA); a demultiplexer (Demux) having a single input and a plurality of outputs, the Demux configured to receive the output of the SOA and to produce a plurality of fixed spectral passbands within the gain bandwidth of the SOA; one or more tunable distributed Bragg reflector(s) (DBR(s)) arranged to receive the outputs of the Demux, each tunable DBR configured to select a reflective spectral band within the gain bandwidth of the SOA upon application of a bias current; wherein the SOA forms the back end mirror of the optical cavity; the one or more tunable DBRs form the front end mirror of the optical cavity; and wherein the lasing channel of the discrete wavelength tunable laser is chosen by the overlap of the selected reflective spectral band of one of the one or more tunable DBRs with a fixed spectral passband of the Demux.

A thermally tunable laser includes: a substrate; a laser resonator, wherein the laser resonator includes a gain section, and wherein the laser resonator includes a tuning section; a heating arrangement; a heat sink arrangement for dissipating a heat flow from the laser resonator to the heat sink arrangement; and a hole arrangement for influencing the heat flow from the laser resonator to the heat sink arrangement, wherein the hole arrangement is arranged between the substrate and the heat sink arrangement, wherein one or more holes of the hole arrangement include at least one hole being arranged within a horizontal range of the tuning section, so that a thermal resistance between the tuning section and the heat sink arrangement is increased.

A thermally tunable laser includes: a substrate; a laser resonator, wherein the laser resonator includes a gain section, and wherein the laser resonator includes a tuning section; a heating arrangement; a heat sink arrangement for dissipating a heat flow from the laser resonator to the heat sink arrangement; and a hole arrangement for influencing the heat flow from the laser resonator to the heat sink arrangement, wherein the hole arrangement is arranged between the substrate and the heat sink arrangement, wherein one or more holes of the hole arrangement include at least one hole being arranged within a horizontal range of the tuning section, so that a thermal resistance between the tuning section and the heat sink arrangement is increased.

A direct modulation laser includes a distributed feedback type laser active region and an optical feedback region optically connected to one end of the laser active region in a waveguide direction. The direct modulation laser performs laser oscillation by using photon-photon resonance (PPR) that occurs depending on a frequency difference between a frequency of light generated (oscillated) in the laser active region and a frequency of an FP mode in the optical feedback region.