Bookham Technology Limited

James Stuart McKenzie

Andrew George Rickman

Arnold Peter Roscoe Harpin

John Paul Drake

Ian Edward Day

Arnold Peter Harpin

Andrew Paul Cornish

Emma Jane Clarissa Dawnay

Matthew Peter Shaw

Stephen Mark Baxter

Ralf-Dieter Pechstedt

Joanna Claire Morey

The optical component ( ) is mounted on an optical chip in alignment with an optical fibre ( ) which is mounted within a V-groove ( ) formed in the chip, the optical component ( ) has two non-parallel location surfaces ( A, B) which abut against corresponding location features ( ) on the chip to locate the component ( ) in a first direction (Y-axis) substantially perpendicular to the plane of the chip and in a second direction (Z-axis) which is perpendicular to said first direction (Y-axis) and substantially perpendicular to the length (X-axis) of the V-groove ( ), and the optical component ( ) is mounted on the chip so as to overhang one end ( A) of the V-groove to enable the end ( A) of the optical fibre ( ) to be brought into a close, abutting relationship with the component ( ).

Assembly of optical component and optical fibre

The application describes the addition of serrations to the edge of the light transmissive layer of an integrated optical device. This enables scattered background light to be coupled out of the device, improving the signal-to-noise ratio.

Integrated optical device providing attenuation

An integrated optical circuit formed on an optically conductive substrate having light absorbing means comprising one or more doped areas (,) of the substrate where the doping concentration is greater than that of areas of the substrate forming the optical circuit (,) to absorb stray light in the substrate which is not guided by components of the optical circuit.

Stray light absorption

An apparatus is provided for coupling an optical fibre to a waveguide on an optical chip, the apparatus comprises a recess in the chip for receiving the optical fiber, the recess comprising a V-groove the side faces of which locate the position of the fiber in directions perpendicular to the optical axis of the fiber so as to position the fibre in alignment with the waveguide, and an end face adjacent the end of the waveguide, the end face of the recess being substantially flat and substantially perpendicular to the plane of the chip with its normal inclined to the optical axis of the waveguide so an optical fiber having an inclined end face can be brought into a close, abutting relationship with the end of the waveguide and brought into rotational alignment therewith about its optical axis by positioning the fiber so its inclined end face lies in planar contact with the end face of the recess.

Coupling optical fibre to waveguide

The polarizer is formed on a silicon rib waveguide (,) having an upper face and two side faces, and comprises a section of the silicon rib waveguide (,) with a buffer layer (,) and a light absorbing layer (,) on either the upper face of the rib or at least one side face of the rib. The buffer layer (,) has a refractive index similar to that of the waveguide (,) such that light traveling along the waveguide (,) and incident upon the respective face thereof passes into the buffer layer (,) and then into the light absorbing layer (,) so either the TM (transverse magnetic) or TE (transverse electric) mode of the light traveling along the waveguide is attenuated.

Integrated optical polarizer

An integrated optical circuit for use in a fibre optic gyroscope which senses rotation rates by determining a phase shift due to the Sagnac Effect between light beams travelling around an optical fibre sensing loop (4) in opposite directions, the circuit being provided on a silicon-on-insulator chip comprising a layer of silicon separated from a substrate by an insulating layer, the circuit comprising: rib waveguides (11) formed in the silicon layer for receiving light from a light source (2) and transmitting light to a light detector (3), fibre optic connectors (9) in the form of grooves etched in the silicon layer for receiving the respective ends of the optical fibre sensing loop (4); rib waveguides (11) formed in the silicon layer for transmitting light to and from said fibre optic connectors (9) so as to direct light beams in opposite directions around the sensing loop (4) and receive light beams returning therefrom, phase determining means and (13,17,31) integrated in silicon layer for determining a phase shift between the light beams returning from the sensing loop (4).

Integrated optical circuit

A turntable optical transmission circuit has a light source forming an input to a waveguide, a detector detecting light output from the waveguide, a comparator for comparing the output with a predetermined value to generate a difference signal and a waveguide trimmer for changing the waveguide transmission in dependence on the difference signal until the output matches the predetermined value.

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Uxbridge, United Kingdom

James Stuart McKenzie