Huawei Technologies Co., Limited

Huawei Technologies Canada Co., Ltd.

Dritan Celo

Dominic John Goodwill

Eric Bernier

Patrick Dumais

Chunhui Zhang

Lukas Chrostowski

Mikelis Svilans

Yun Wang

A method and apparatus is provided for control of plural optical phase shifters in an optical device, such as a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer switch. Drive signal magnitude is set using a level setting input and is used for operating both phase shifters, which may have similar characteristics due to co-location and co-manufacture. A device state control signal selects which of the phase shifters receives the drive signal. One or more switches may be used to route the drive signal to the selected phase shifter. Separate level control circuits and state control circuits operating at different speeds may be employed. When the phase shifters are asymmetrically conducting (e.g. carrier injection) phase shifters, a bi-polar drive circuit can be employed. In this case, the phase shifters can be connected in reverse-parallel, and the drive signal polarity can be switchably reversed in order to drive a selected one of the phase shifters.

Method and apparatus for control of optical phase shifters in an optical device

A photonic integrated circuit is provided that is adapted to compensate for an unintentional manufactured refractive index profile, such as a gradient, that arises due to manufacturing variance. The photonic integrated circuit including at least a thermal source and a spaced thermal sink to induce a thermal gradient in the photonic integrated circuit between the thermal source and the spaced thermal sink, the thermal gradient imparts an opposing thermal refractive index profile to correct for the manufactured refractive index profile. In some embodiments the photonic integrated circuit may be constructed with features that have an intentional structured refractive index profile that ensures any unintentional manufactured refractive index profile is correctable by the opposing thermal refractive index profile induced by the thermal source.

Apparatus and methods for accommodating manufacturing variance in optical photonic integrated circuits

An assembly with optical gain assisted optical transposer is provided. The optical transposer which optically couples a fibre array unit and a photonic integrated circuit. The optical transposer includes one or more optical gain elements which are configured to provide optical compensation, for example optical gain to mitigate optical losses associated with multistage photonic integrated devices. According to some embodiments, the optical gain element is a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). According to some embodiments the photonic integrated circuit is a SiPh PIC.

Optical transposer assembly

A carrier-effect based optical switch, a method of operating the carrier-effect based switch, and a controller module for controlling a carrier-effect based optical switch are provided. The carrier-effect based optical switch comprises input and output optical couplers, first and second optical waveguide arms each connecting the input optical coupler to the output optical coupler, a first junction diode proximate to the first optical waveguide arm for providing a first optical phase delay thereto due to at least a carrier-based effect, and a first resistive heater proximate to the second optical waveguide arm for providing a second optical phase delay thereto due to a thermo-optic effect. The method comprises applying a first electrical power to the first junction diode for providing a first optical phase delay thereto due to at least a carrier-based effect, and applying a second electrical power to the first resistive heater for providing a second optical phase delay thereto due to at least a carrier-based effect. The controller module comprises code which, when executed on a computing device, causes the controller module to perform the method.

Carrier-effect based optical switch

An optical transmitter including an optical waveguide and N microring resonators (MRRs) coupled to the optical waveguide is provided. In such an optical transmitter each of the N MRRs having a different coupling coefficient determining the amount of coupling to the optical waveguide, wherein N&#x3e;1. In some embodiments, each of the N MRRs has a different spacing distance from the optical waveguide, wherein the coupling coefficient for each MRR is dependent on the spacing. In some embodiments the optical transmitter further includes an input for receiving N drive signals from a controller, each drive signal shifting the resonant wavelength of the corresponding MRR to control the optical power coupled in the corresponding MRR from the optical waveguide in which an optical signal propagates.

Optical transmitter

An optical attenuator and/or optical terminator is provided. The device includes an optical channel having two regions with different optical properties, such as an undoped silicon region which is less optically absorptive and a doped silicon region which is more optically absorptive. Other materials may also be used. A facet at the interface between the two regions is oriented at a non-perpendicular angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the channel. The angle can be configured to mitigate back reflection. Multiple facets may be included between different pairs of regions. The device may further include curved and/or tapers to further facilitate attenuation and/or optical termination.

Optical attenuator and fabrication method thereof

The present application provides an electrostatic discharge guard structure for photonic platform based photodiode systems. In particular this application provides a photodiode assembly comprising: a photodiode (such as a Si or SiGe photodiode); a waveguide (such as a silicon waveguide); and a guard structure, wherein the guard structure comprises a diode, extends about all or substantially all of the periphery of the Si or SiGe photodiode and allows propagation of light from the silicon waveguide into the Si or SiGe photodiode.

Electrostatic discharge guard structure

System and method embodiments are provided for optical I/O arrays for wafer scale testing. A wafer includes a plurality of dies of PIC chips. Each die includes a plurality of first and second optical I/O elements each configured to couple to a testing probe array. A row of I/O elements includes alternating ones of the first and second optical I/O elements. Each die also includes a first waveguide and a second waveguide coupling a first one of the first and second optical I/O elements to a second one of the first and second optical I/O elements, respectively. The first and second optical I/O elements configured such that the testing probe array couples to at least some of the first optical I/O elements from a first side of the PIC chip and couples to at least some of the second optical I/O elements from a second side of the PIC chip.

System and method for optical input/output arrays

An apparatus comprising a first photonic device comprising a waveguide loop configured to guide a first light from a first location of a surface to a second location of the surface, and a second photonic device comprising a light source configured to provide the first light, and a first alignment coupler optically coupled to the light source and configured to optically couple to the waveguide loop at the first location, a second alignment coupler configured to optically couple to the waveguide loop at the second location, and a photodetector optically coupled to the second alignment coupler and configured to detect the first light when the waveguide loop is aligned with the first alignment coupler and the second alignment coupler, and generate, based on the detection and on the received light, an electrical signal.

Active photonic integrated circuit (PIC) with embedded coupling efficiency monitoring

System and method embodiments are provided for a thermo-optic switch with thermally isolated and heat restricting pillars. The embodiments enable increased integration density in photonic integrated chips (PICs), reduced power consumption, improved switching speed, and increased chip lifetime. In an embodiment, an optical waveguide; a resistive heater in thermal contact with a surface of the optical waveguide; and a plurality of heat flow restricting pillars connected to the sides of the optical waveguide and supporting the optical waveguide such that the optical waveguide is substantially thermally isolated from a substrate below the optical waveguide by a gap formed between the optical waveguide and the substrate, and wherein the pillars restrict heat flow from the optical waveguide to a supporting structure that supports the pillars.

Integrated thermo-optic switch with thermally isolated and heat restricting pillars

System and method embodiments are provided for high density on-chip optical input/output (I/O) arrays with partition waveguide routing topology. System and apparatus embodiments for on-chip optical I/O arrays provide for doubling the density of optical I/O arrays in a given footprint on a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip. System and apparatus embodiments for on-chip optical I/O arrays also provide waveguide routing topology to provide signal feedback to facility automated active alignment and coupling of optical fiber arrays in to surface grating coupler elements without use of waveguide crossings and without intersecting with waveguides connecting devices to I/O ports. In an embodiment, a PIC chip includes a plurality of first optical I/O elements and a plurality of second optical I/O elements, wherein a row of I/O elements comprises alternating ones of the first optical I/O elements and the second optical I/O elements.

An edge coupling method comprising positioning a first photonic device such that a first edge coupler of the first photonic device is at least partially aligned with a first alignment waveguide of a second photonic device and such that a second edge coupler of the first photonic device is at least partially aligned with a second alignment waveguide of the second photonic device, wherein the first edge coupler widens towards an edge of the first photonic device and the second edge coupler widens towards the edge, and wherein the first edge coupler and the second edge coupler are optically coupled to each other by an interconnect, transmitting a light through the first alignment waveguide, detecting the light at the second alignment waveguide, and aligning the first photonic device and the second photonic device based on the detecting.

Optical alignment using multimode edge couplers

An apparatus comprising a plurality of alignment couplers, wherein the alignment couplers are equally spaced a first length apart from each other along a first surface, a plurality of photodetectors optically coupled to the plurality of alignment couplers, a memory, and a processor coupled to the photodetectors and the memory, wherein the memory comprises computer executable instructions stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium that when executed by the processor cause the processor to receive an electrical signal in response to at least one of the photodetectors detecting a first light, and determine an edge coupling alignment based on the electrical signal, wherein the edge coupling alignment is aligned when the electrical signal indicates two photodetectors of the plurality of photodetectors detect the first light, and wherein the edge coupling alignment is misaligned when the electrical signal indicates only one photodetector of the plurality of photodetectors detects the first light.

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Nepean, Canada

Dritan Celo