Aspects of the present disclosure describe large scale steerable optical switched arrays that may be fabricated on a common substrate including many thousands or more emitters that may be arranged in a curved pattern at the focal plane of a lens thereby allowing the directional control of emitted light and selective reception of reflected light suitable for use in imaging, ranging, and sensing applications including accident avoidance.

An optical phase modulator includes a lower cladding layer, a core formed on the lower cladding layer, an upper cladding layer formed over the core, and a heater. In addition, the optical phase modulator includes a semiconductor layer which is embedded in the upper cladding layer, is disposed above the core, and is formed of a compound semiconductor, and the heater is constituted by an impurity introduction region formed in the semiconductor layer.

An electro-optical modulator is provided. The modulator comprises a first and a second optical waveguide, at least one first capacitance, via which a voltage can be applied to a light-guiding region of the first optical waveguide, at least one second capacitance, via which a voltage can be applied to a light-guiding region of the second optical waveguide, an electrically conductive region, via which the first and second capacitances are electrically connected to one another, and a feed line to the electrically conductive region, via which feed line a DC voltage can be applied to the electrically conductive region, wherein the feed line is constituted such that it represents an electrical resistance connected in parallel with the second capacitance, and a compensation resistance connected in parallel with the first capacitance and serving for reducing transients in a voltage profile on the first and second capacitances during the operation of the modulator.

Disclosed herein are systems and architecture for thermal waveguide-based phase shifters which improve thermal efficiency by having multi-pass waveguides arranged under the heating element in a serpentine fashion, with the waveguides having mismatched propagation constants. The combination allows for an increase in phase shift without increasing the length or the power consumption of the resistive heating element by increasing the total length of waveguide being heated by a singular heating element.

A phase shifter includes a substrate layer, a cladding layer, and a waveguide. The phase shifter includes a waveguide and a heating element. The phase shifter includes a thermally conductive structure disposed on the cladding layer to disperse heat from the waveguide. The thermally conductive structure may include a metal strip disposed longitudinally along the beam, may include thermally conductive pads, and/or may include thermally conductive vias coupled between the cladding layer and the substrate layer. The phase shifter may be incorporated into light detection and ranging (LIDAR) devices, telecommunications devices, and/or computing devices.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards an integrated chip including a waveguide and a heater structure. The waveguide is disposed on a substrate and comprises an active region that extends continuously along a first distance. The heater structure overlies the waveguide. The heater structure comprises a conductive structure over the active region and a vertical structure disposed between the conductive structure and the substrate. The vertical structure comprises a conductive upper vertical segment and a lower vertical segment. The conductive structure and the conductive upper vertical segment continuously laterally extend across a second distance that is greater than or equal to the first distance. The first distance is greater than a width of the conductive structure.

A waveguide device comprises a substrate comprising an electro-optical material; a waveguide formed in the electro-optical material; and a plurality of electrodes formed in a vicinity of the waveguide. The electro-optical material has a first refractive index. The waveguide comprises a plurality of tracks. The tracks comprise a second refractive index smaller than the first refractive index, are parallel to each other with a common direction defining a direction of the waveguide, and form an arrangement in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the waveguide. The arrangement comprises at least 40 equilateral triangles of identical side lengths, wherein all three corners of each of the equilateral triangles each coincide with a different track of the plurality of tracks in the plane perpendicular to the direction of the waveguide.

A line-shaped heater and an optical resonator with portions on opposite sides of the line-shaped heater are provided. In particular a device provided herein includes: one or more inputs; one or more outputs; one or more optical waveguides configured to: receive an optical signal from at least one of the one or more inputs; and convey the optical signal to at least one of the one or more outputs; an optical resonator configured to modulate or filter the optical signal; and a heater configured to heat the optical resonator, the heater being line-shaped and having a first side and a second side opposite the first side, and the optical resonator comprising a first portion at the first side of the heater and a second portion at the second side of the heater.

Apparatus and method for transferring data in a data storage system, such as but not limited to a hard disc drive (HDD). An optical link is provided between an analog front end (AFE) of a data storage device controller circuit (SOC) and a preamplifier/driver circuit (preamp) mounted to a rotary actuator to transfer an analog domain signal. A selected component is extracted from the signal using a modulation element such as a micro-resonance ring (MRR) or a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Modulation (MZM) device. The extracted component is forwarded to a processing circuit to facilitate a transfer of data between a local memory and a non-volatile memory (NVM). The optical link includes a flexible portion in a flex circuit affixed to the rotary actuator and which supports the preamp. Multiplexed read, write, and power control signals are concurrently transmitted via the optical link. The link can concurrently service multiple head-disc assemblies (HDAs).

A method includes forming a layer made of a first insulating material on a first layer made of a second insulating material that covers a support, defining a waveguide made of the first material in the layer of the first material, covering the waveguide made of the first material with a second layer of the second material, planarizing an upper surface of the second layer of the second material, and forming a single-crystal silicon layer over the second layer.