International Business Machines Corporation

Darius Urbonas

Thilo Hermann Curt Stoeferle

Rainer Friedbert Mahrt

Armin W Knoll

Thilo H C Stoeferle

Christian Michael Schwemmer

Francesca Ruggeri

Karl Felix Sebastian Eltes

Michael A Becker

Fabio Scafirimuto

Rainer F Mahrt

An optical gate device may have one or more optical cavities. The optical cavity may have an embedded optically-active material providing strong light-matter coupling. A pump input allows application to of a pulsed optical pump beam the optically-active material. The pump beam is absorbed by the optically active material to form an exciton-polariton condensate which emits light. The optical gate device may have an input waveguide to input a seed signal to the optical cavity. The optical gate device may include an output waveguide to output of an optical signal at a wavelength corresponding to a resonant mode of a the cavity. The device may operate in a manner such that, when the pump beam is applied to the pump input, an optical output signal is selectively provided in the output waveguide, via the input of the a seed signal and light emitted by the exciton-polariton condensate.

Optical logic using seeded exciton-polariton condensates

A device having a layered structure that includes a layer of phase change material and a matrix material layer having embedding quantum emitters is tuned. An electric field is applied through the matrix material layer and the layer of phase change material to change the emission wavelengths of the quantum emitters. A phase of the phase change material is changed, in a non-volatile manner, in each of one or more of local areas of the phase change material, to form local alterations that are opposite to respective ones of the quantum emitters in the matrix material layer, to locally modify the electric field at the respective quantum emitters.

Tuning emission wavelengths of quantum emitters via a phase change material

A method to configure an optical device. The method may rely on an optical device that includes two parallel mirrors extending, each, parallel to a reference plane, and an active material extending between the mirrors. An average plane of the active material is parallel to said reference plane, so as to form an optical resonator. The active material is energized so as to non-volatilely alter a refractive index and/or an optical absorption in one or more regions of said material. This results in forming one or more cavities, respectively, in which light can be laterally confined, in-plane with said average plane, in addition to being confined between the mirrors, along a direction perpendicular to said reference plane. Each of the one or more cavities has an altered mode profile compared to a non-altered region of the active material. Related methods and optical devices are also disclosed.

Non-volatilely programmable optical devices and methods to configure such optical devices

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to an electro-optical device that comprises a substrate, a waveguide structure, and two contact layer portions. The contact layer portions extend side-by-side along a direction of light propagation that is parallel to the substrate. The waveguide structure may guide light along said direction of light propagation. The waveguide structure comprises an optically nonlinear material and interdigitated crosspieces. The crosspieces extend parallel to the substrate from each of said two contact layer portions and transversely to such portions. The optically nonlinear material is in contact with at least portions of the interdigitated crosspieces. Said crosspieces are not in direct contact with each other, forming a composite waveguide core involving an alternating sequence of distinct materials along said propagation direction. The distinct materials comprise said semiconductor material and at least one additional material, whereby the composite waveguide core has an effective refractive index.

Electro-optical device with active electro-optical waveguide structure

A detection device can include a cavity structure forming a Fabry-Perot optical microcavity, an electrostatic trap, and a Brownian motor. The Fabry-Perot optical microcavity has two mirrors extending on each side of a reference plane in a spacer region between the two mirrors. The mirrors are configured to vertically confine radiation in the spacer region, e.g., with respect to a first direction perpendicular to the reference plane. The electrostatic trap is arranged in the spacer region. The trap includes a pit and the cavity structure is generally configured to confine radiation in the pit, laterally (e.g., with respect to a second direction parallel to the reference plane). The Brownian motor structure extends in the spacer region along said reference plane. This structure is adapted to laterally load particles in the pit of the electrostatic trap by moving such particles along the structure, in operation.

Optical microcavities with integrated electrostatic confinement and brownian motors

A surface-guiding photonic device includes a planar, tempered glass, comprising a bulk layer and a tempered superficial layer contiguous with the bulk layer. The superficial layer is at least partly exposed to air and has an intrinsic gradient refractive index in a direction z perpendicular to a main plane of the glass, whereas the bulk layer has a refractive index that is essentially constant along direction z. The average refractive index of the superficial layer is larger than each of: (i) the average refractive index of the bulk layer; and (ii) the refractive index of air. The glass can include lateral structures, e.g., trenches, extending parallel to the propagation direction y, so as for the device to have a rib waveguide-like configuration. The lateral structures form recesses in the superficial layer, so as to laterally confine radiation propagating in the tempered superficial layer, by total internal reflection.

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Adliswil, Switzerland

Darius Urbonas