A packaged integrated white light source configured for illumination and communication or sensing comprises one or more laser diode devices. An output facet configured on the laser diode device outputs a laser beam of first electromagnetic radiation with a first peak wavelength. The first wavelength from the laser diode provides at least a first carrier channel for a data or sensing signal.

An optical module includes an optical device that outputs an optical signal corresponding to a control voltage, a voltage controller that applies the control voltage on which a dither signal is superimposed to the optical device, a monitor unit that monitors the optical signal output from the optical device, and outputs a monitor signal, a multiplier that multiplies the monitor signal by a reference signal corresponding to the dither signal, a filter unit that extracts a direct-current component included in a multiplication result, and a controller that causes the voltage controller to change the control voltage in accordance with the direct-current component. The controller changes the frequency of the dither signal or the reference signal such that the frequency of the reference signal is twice as large as that of the dither signal, when the direct-current component satisfies a predetermined condition.

Methods and apparatus for coherent transmitter calibration are provided that employ direct detection (DD) using one single photodetector (PD). The provided method and apparatus do not require hardware for coherent reception, or additional ADCs for quality control. An additional optical tone is added to a QAM optical signal that is outside the band of the QAM optical signal. The result of this is that after direct detection, there is a correlation between the real and imaginary parts, and the imaginary part can be recovered with a Hilbert transform. The estimated QAM optical signal obtained by direct detection is used to perform a transmitter factory calibration method to calibrate for one or more transmitter impairments and/or to perform in-line self-calibration.

A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) includes an optical transmitter and an optical receiver. An optical loopback is coupled to the optical transmitter and to the optical receiver and is configurable to provide in a communications mode a transmitted optical signal from the optical transmitter to an optical output node and to provide a received optical signal on an optical input node to the optical receiver. The optical loopback is further configurable in a loopback testing mode to optically isolate the received optical signal on the optical input node from the optical receiver and to provide the transmitted optical signal from the optical transmitter to the optical receiver. A PIC including the optical loopback enables improved optical loopback testing of optical ports that will be present on network devices including co-packaged optics.

An apparatus for determining an interference in a transmission medium during a transmission of a data input signal according to an embodiment has a transform module configured to transform the data input signal from a time domain to a frequency domain comprising a plurality of frequency channels to obtain a frequency-domain data signal comprising a plurality of spectral coefficients, wherein each spectral coefficient is assigned to one of the frequency channels, an analysis module configured to determine the interference by determining one or more spectral interference coefficients, wherein each spectral interference coefficient is assigned to one frequency channel. The analysis module is configured to determine each spectral interference coefficient depending on the spectral coefficients, and depending on a transfer function, wherein the transfer function is configured to receive two or more argument values, wherein each of the argument values indicates one frequency channel, and wherein the transfer function is configured to return a return value depending on the argument values.

A packaged integrated white light source configured for illumination and communication or sensing comprises one or more laser diode devices. An output facet configured on the laser diode device outputs a laser beam of first electromagnetic radiation with a first peak wavelength. The first wavelength from the laser diode provides at least a first carrier channel for a data or sensing signal.

A photonic processor includes a modulator, an optical filter, and a polarization combiner. The modulator is configured to receive an electronic signal, first optical control signal, and first optical operating signal, the first optical operating signal received from an optical source circuit on a first path having a first length, the first optical control signal received from an optical control circuit on the first path; modulate the first optical operating signal using the electronic signal to provide an intensity-modulated optical operating signal comprising a first optical operating carrier, first sideband, and second sideband; and modulate the first optical control signal using the electronic signal to provide an intensity-modulated control signal comprising a first optical control carrier. The optical filter is configured to extract the first optical operating carrier and first sideband from the intensity-modulated optical operating signal and provide the second sideband and the control carrier.

A Mach Zehnder modulator operates by phase modulating split optical beams with a modulating signal to create dissimilarities in the optical characteristics between the split beams. When the beams are recombined, the dissimilarities gives rise to intensity modulations that are indicative of the modulating signal. One or both beams are modulated with an RF trimming signal. The trimming signal is applied asymmetrically across the two beams thereby reducing the intensity of the optical carrier frequency in one of the beams more than in the other. By selecting the size of the trimming signal the differences in the optical amplitude of the carrier frequency in the two beams can be nulled.

Examples herein relate to optical systems. In particular, implementations herein relate to an optical system including an optical transmitter configured to transmit optical signals. The optical transmitter includes a first optical source and a second optical source coupled to the first optical source and injection seeded by the first optical source. The optical transmitter further includes an output coupler, the second optical source coupled to the optical coupler via an output waveguide and configured to emit light having multiple different wavelengths through the output waveguide. In some implementations, the second optical source is self-injection seeded.

Methods and apparatus for providing spectrally beam-combined fiber-based transmitters and/or receivers for laser communications, LiDAR, and similar devices. A transmitter can include a launch array configured to spatially position each output beam of pulsed lasers, a transform optical component to correct deflection of the output beams of the pulsed lasers from the launch array, and a dispersive optical element to combine beams from the transform optical element and generate a spectrally combined beam. A receiver can include spectral comb filters to spectrally discriminate multi-wavelength detected signals from background illumination.