A disclosed semiconductor photodetector includes a first semiconductor layer having a first refractive index and a first band gap; a second semiconductor layer formed on the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer having a second refractive index and a second band gap; a first electrode; and a second electrode. The second refractive index is greater than the first refractive index, and the second band gap is smaller than the first band gap. The first semiconductor layer includes a p-type first region, an n-type second region, and a non-conductive third region between the first region and the second region. The second semiconductor layer includes a p-type fourth region in ohmic contact with the first electrode, an n-type fifth region in ohmic contact with the second electrode, and a non-conductive sixth region between the fourth region and the fifth region.

A device, such as an electroabsorption modulator, can modulate a light intensity by controllably absorbing a selectable fraction of the light. The device can include a substrate. A waveguide positioned on the substrate can guide light. An active region positioned on the waveguide can receive guided light from the waveguide, absorb a fraction of the received light, and return a complementary fraction of the received light to the waveguide. Such absorption produces heat, mostly at an input portion of the active region. The input portion of the active region can be thermally coupled to the substrate, which can dissipate heat from the input portion, and can help avoid thermal runaway of the device. The active region can be thermally isolated from the substrate away from the input portion, which can maintain a relatively low thermal mass for the active region, and can increase efficiency when heating the active region.

A balanced homodyne detection optical circuit according to the present disclosure is a planar optical waveguide circuit in which a circuit made of an optical waveguide including a dielectric or a semiconductor is formed on a substrate, the balanced homodyne detection optical circuit including an input port of local oscillator light and an input port of measurement light (squeezed light (including excitation light)), wherein a wavelength demultiplexing circuit which demultiplexes only the measurement light is arranged immediately after the input port of measurement light, a 50% multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit is arranged which causes squeezed light having been demultiplexed by the wavelength demultiplexing circuit and the local oscillator light to respectively branch at a branching ratio of 50% and to interfere with each other, and two output ports are arranged to which two outputs from the 50% multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit are guided.

Disclosed is a compact on-chip polarization splitter-rotator based on a Bezier curve gradient waveguide. The Bezier curve gradient waveguide structure is a standard SOI-based wafer structure, comprising a substrate, of which the bottom layer is buried with oxide (SiO.sub.2), and the top is composed of silicon waveguides, including a common output waveguide and a specially-structured waveguide containing Bessel curve boundaries. The common waveguide structure is composed of a cuboid waveguide, and the specially-structured waveguide is composed of an input region, an output region, a width-gradient waveguide (Bezier curve gradient structure) and a coupling region, where a width of the gradient waveguide is determined by a third-order Bezier curve, and the coupling region is composed of two asymmetrical waveguide regions.

Structures for a photodetector and methods of fabricating a structure for a photodetector. A photodetector includes a photodetector pad coupled to a waveguide core and a light-absorbing layer coupled to the photodetector pad. The light-absorbing layer has a body, a first taper that projects laterally from the body toward the waveguide core, and a second taper that projects laterally from the body toward the waveguide core. The photodetector pad includes a tapered section that is laterally positioned between the first taper and the second taper of the light-absorbing layer.

A waveguide platform and method of fabricating a waveguide platform on a silicon wafer; the method comprising: providing a wafer having a layer of crystalline silicon;

lithographically defining a first region of the top layer; electrochemically etching the wave-guide platform to create porous silicon at the lithographically defined first region; epitaxially growing crystalline silicon on top of the porous silicon to create a first upper crystalline layer with a first buried porous silicon region underneath; wherein the first buried porous silicon region defines a taper between a first waveguide region of crystalline silicon having a first depth and a second waveguide region of crystalline silicon having a second depth which is smaller than the first depth.

A method for fabricating an integrated structure, using a fabrication system having a CMOS line and a photonics line, includes the steps of: in the photonics line, fabricating a first photonics component in a silicon wafer; transferring the wafer from the photonics line to the CMOS line; and in the CMOS line, fabricating a CMOS component in the silicon wafer. Additionally, a monolithic integrated structure includes a silicon wafer with a waveguide and a CMOS component formed therein, wherein the waveguide structure includes a ridge extending away from the upper surface of the silicon wafer. A monolithic integrated structure is also provided which has a photonics component and a CMOS component formed therein, the photonics component including a waveguide having a width of 0.5 μm to 13 μm.

The invention relates to a device for coupling a flared laser source (10) and an output waveguide (3), comprising a coupler (20), a combiner (40), and a network of intermediate waveguides (30) located between the coupler and the combiner and comprising a correcting central section (S.sub.c) in which an effective index associated with the guided modes is adjusted so that the optical paths of the intermediate waveguides (30) between the coupler (20) and the combiner (40) are identical to one another.

Disclosed are apparatus and methods for optical coupling in optical communications. In one embodiment, an apparatus for optical coupling is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a planar layer; an array of scattering elements arranged in the planar layer at a plurality of intersections of a first set of concentric elliptical curves crossing with a second set of concentric elliptical curves rotated proximately 90 degrees to form a two-dimensional (2D) grating; a first taper structure formed in the planar layer connecting a first convex side of the 2D grating to a first waveguide; and a second taper structure formed in the planar layer connecting a second convex side of the 2D grating to a second waveguide. Each scattering element is a pillar into the planar layer. The pillar has a top surface whose shape is a concave polygon having at least 6 corners.

Configurations for an optical device used for light splitting and wavelength locking are disclosed. The optical device may be a two by three coupler with a first waveguide coupled to a second waveguide, and a third waveguide coupled to the second waveguide. The first and third waveguides may receive input light and optically couple light to the second waveguide. The output signals of the first, second, and third waveguides may have a constant phase difference from one another over a broadband wavelength range, which may allow for phase unwrapping. By phase unwrapping the output signals over an FSR and performing further phase unwrapping over the broadband wavelength range, a continuous signal may be produced and used to sequentially lock each wavelength of light emitted by light sources over the broadband wavelength range.