Apple Inc.

Other

Alpes Lasers Sa

Alfredo Bismuto

Mark Alan Arbore

Yongming Tu

Andrea Trita

Ross M Audet

Jason S Pelc

Yi-Kuei Ryan Wu

Jeremy D Witmer

Aaron John Zilkie

David I Simon

Jeffrey Thomas Hill

Yves Bidaux

Thomas Schrans

Antoine Jean André Müller

Hooman Abediasl

Jérôme Faist

Yangyang Liu

Huiyang Deng

Mohsen Kamandar Dezfouli

Petr Markov

Bertram Gunzelmann

Zdravko Boos

Kwan-Yu Lai

Michael J Bishop

Mohamed Mahmoud

Alex Goldis

Tomas Sarmiento

Yi-kuei Ryan Wu

Tobias Gresch

Emilio Gini

Borislav Hinkov

Johanna Wolf

Antoine Mueller

Camille Tardy

Junkyo Suh

Yigit O Yilmaz

Configurations for an optical system used for guiding light and reducing back-reflection back in an output waveguide is disclosed. The optical system may include an output waveguide defined in a slab waveguide. The output waveguide may terminate before an output side of the slab waveguide, which may reduce the back-reflection of light from the output side back into the output waveguide. The output side may define an optical element that may steer the output light. The optical element may collimate the output light, cause the output light to converge, or cause the output light to diverge.

Light output devices and light outputting methods for optical systems

Disclosed herein is an integrated photonics device including a frequency stabilization subsystem for monitoring and/or adjusting the wavelength of light emitted by one or more light sources. The device can include one or more selectors that can combine, select, and/or filter light along one or more light paths, which can include light emitted by a plurality of light sources. Example selectors may include, but are not limited to, an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), a ring resonator, a plurality of distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs), a plurality of filters, and the like. Output light paths from the selector(s) can be input into one or more detector(s). The detector(s) can receive the light along the light paths and can generate one or more signals as output signal(s) from the frequency stabilization subsystem. A controller can monitor the wavelength and can adjust or generate control signal(s) for the one or more light sources to lock the monitored wavelength to a target wavelength (or within a targeted range of wavelengths).

Systems and methods for wavelength locking in optical sensing systems

A device including a plurality of epitaxial chips is disclosed. An epitaxial chip can have one or more of a light source and a detector, where the detector can be configured to measure the optical properties of the light emitted by a light source. In some examples, one or more epitaxial chips can have one or more optical properties that differ from other epitaxial chips. The epitaxial chips can be dependently operable. For example, the detector located on one epitaxial chip can be configured for measuring the optical properties of light emitted by a light source located on another epitaxial chip by way of one or more optical signals. The collection of epitaxial chips can also allow detection of a plurality of laser outputs, where two or more epitaxial chips can have different material and/or optical properties.

Connected epitaxial optical sensing systems

A laser chip including a plurality of stripes is disclosed, where a laser stripe can be grown with an initial optical gain profile, and its optical gain profile can be shifted by using an intermixing process. In this manner, multiple laser stripes can be formed on the same laser chip from the same epitaxial wafer, where at least one laser stripe can have an optical gain profile shifted relative to another laser stripe. For example, each laser stripe can have a shifted optical gain profile relative to its neighboring laser stripe, thereby each laser stripe can emit light with a different range of wavelengths. The laser chip can emit light across a wide range of wavelengths. Examples of the disclosure further includes different regions of a given laser stripe having different intermixing amounts.

Laser architectures using quantum well intermixing techniques

A photonic integrated circuit including multiple elements formed by different processes onto separate chips can be manufactured by defining, via photolithography processes for example, complementary geometries onto each separate chip. Thereafter, the complementary geometries can be aligned and engaged, thereby optically and mechanically intercoupling the several chips to define a single photonic integrated circuit.

Chip-to-chip optical coupling for photonic integrated circuits

Configurations for an edge-generated vertical emission laser that vertically emits light and fabrication methods of the edge-generated vertical emission laser are disclosed. The edge-generated vertical emission laser may include a distributed feedback (DFB) laser structure, a grating coupler, and contact layers. Light may propagate through the DFB laser structure, approximately parallel to the top surface of the edge-generated vertical emission laser and be directed by the grating coupler toward the top surface of the edge-generated vertical emission laser. The light may vertically emit from the edge-generated vertical emission laser approximately perpendicular to the top surface of the edge-generated vertical emission laser. Additionally, the contact layers may be n-metal and p-metal, which may be located on the same side of the edge-generated vertical emission laser. These features of the edge-generated vertical emission laser may facilitate ease of testing and increased options for packaging.

Integrated edge-generated vertical emission laser

This disclosure relates to the layout of optical components included in a photonics integrated circuit (PIC) and the routing of optical traces between the optical components. The optical components can include light sources, a detector array, and a combiner. The optical components can be located in different regions of a substrate of the PIC, where the regions may include one or more types of active optical components, but also may exclude other types of active optical components. The optical traces can include a first plurality of optical traces for routing signals between light sources and a detector array, where the first plurality of optical traces can be located in an outer region of the substrate. The optical traces can also include a second plurality of optical traces for routing signals between the light sources and a combiner, where the second plurality of optical traces can be located in regions between banks of the light sources.

Photonics integrated circuit architecture

An electronic device may include wireless circuitry clocked using an electro-optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) having primary and secondary lasers. A frequency-locked loop (FLL) path and a phase-locked loop (PLL) path may couple an output of the secondary laser to its input. A photodiode may generate a photodiode signal based on the laser output. A digital-to-time converter (DTC) may generate a reference signal. The FLL path may coarsely tune the secondary laser based on the photodiode signal until the secondary laser is frequency locked. Then, the PLL path may finely tune the secondary laser based on the reference signal and the photodiode signal until the phase of the secondary laser is locked to the primary laser. The photodiode signal may be subsampled on the PLL path. This may allow the OPLL to generate optical local oscillator signals with minimal jitter and phase noise.

Electronic devices having electro-optical phase-locked loops

A multi-chip photonic assembly includes first and second photonic integrated circuits having first and second waveguides vertically stacked such that first vertical dimensions of the first and second waveguides occupy different horizontal planes in the stack. At least one of the first and second waveguides has a region that has a second vertical dimension that is larger than the first vertical dimension and either horizontally overlaps the other waveguide and/or vertically contacts the other waveguide. Light moving through one of the waveguides from the first vertical dimension to the other vertical dimension changes modes vertically so that the light moves from one waveguide to the other.

Mechanisms that transfer light between layers of multi-chip photonic assemblies

A waveguide structure and a method for splitting light is described. The method may include optically coupling a first waveguide and a second waveguide, where the optical coupling may be wavelength insensitive. The widths of the first and second waveguides may be non-adiabatically varying and the optical coupling may be asymmetric between the first and second waveguides. A gap between the first and second waveguides may also be varied non-adiabatically and the gap may depend on the widths of the first and second waveguides. The optical coupling between the first and second waveguides may also occur in the approximate wavelength range of 800 nanometers to 1700 nanometers.

Asymmetric optical power splitting system and method

Configurations for a photonics assembly and the operation thereof are disclosed. The photonics assembly may include multiple photonics dies which may be arranged in an offset vertical stack. The photonics dies may emit light, and in some examples, an optical element may be a detector for monitoring properties such as the wavelength of the light. The photonics dies may be arranged in a stack as a package and the packages may be stacked or arranged side by side or both for space savings. The PIC may include combining and/or collimating optics to receive light from the photonics dies, a mirror to redirect the light, and an aperture structure. The aperture structure may include a region which is at least partially transparent such that light transmits through the transparent region of the aperture structure. The aperture structure may include an at least partially opaque region which may be used for directing and/or controlling the light launch position.

Photonics assembly with a photonics die stack

Configurations for an optical system with phase shifting elements are disclosed. The optical system may include a first waveguide that provides light to a second waveguide, which may be a slab waveguide. A phase shifting element may be disposed on the slab waveguide and may be heated to induce a temperature change in the slab waveguide. By increasing the temperature of the propagation region of the slab waveguide, the index of refraction of the propagation region of the slab waveguide may shift, thus causing the index of refraction of light propagating through the propagation region to shift, thus shifting the phase of the light. This may result in an optical component capable of phase shifting light for reducing coherent noise while being energy efficient and maintaining a small form factor.

Optical system with phase shifting elements

Methods and systems concerning demultiplexing and multiplexing light in optical multiplexing systems are disclosed herein. An optical multiplexing system may include a number of light emitters and a number of associated waveguides. Light emitted from each of the number of light emitters may travel through the associated waveguide and may enter a multiplexer, where a multiplexing operation may occur. At least one of the number of light emitters may be configured to emit light with multiple wavelengths. Such a light emitter may further be associated with a demultiplexer to demultiplex the light with multiple wavelengths before the light reaches a multiplexer. After a demultiplexing operation, the demultiplexed light may be directed to multiple waveguides and the multiple waveguides may guide the demultiplexed light to a multiplexer.

Wavelength agile multiplexing

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Alfredo Bismuto