Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Makoto Jizodo

Shin Kamei

Hiroshi Fukuda

Ken Tsuzuki

Kiyofumi Kikuchi

Yusuke Nasu

Manabu Oguma

Yuichiro Ikuma

Shogo Yamanaka

Kotaro Takeda

To provide an optical 90-degree hybrid formed of a silicon waveguide capable of suppressing an optical loss and a phase error, and facilitating electronic packaging and optical packaging. In the optical 90-degree hybrid circuit including two optical branching units facing each other and two optical coupling units facing away from each other, four arm waveguides are arranged including bent waveguides each of which guides an output light of the optical branching unit to the optical coupling unit, and is formed in a curved shape.

Optical 90 degree hybrid circuit

A polarization multiplex optical transmitter circuit can provide compensation for the transmission PDL while reducing decrease in transmission power. The polarization multiplex optical transmitter circuit includes a beam divider circuit configured to divide light outputted from a light source, optical phase shifters provided in at least one of two waveguides connected to output terminals of the beam divider circuit, a light wave synthesizer circuit connected to the two waveguides, first and second optical transmitters coupled to two output terminals of the light wave synthesizer circuit, a polarization multiplexer configured to synthesize two output polarized waves from the first and second optical transmitters, and a polarization rotator provided between the first and second optical transmitters and the polarization multiplexer and coupled to at least one of the first and second optical transmitters.

Polarization multiplexed optical transmitter circuit and polarization multi/demultiplexed optical transceiver circuit

A germanium photodetector which reduces a dark current without degradation of a photocurrent includes: a silicon substrate; a lower clad layer formed on the silicon substrate; a core layer formed on the lower clad layer; a p-type silicon slab formed in a part of the core layer and doped with a p-type impurity ion; p++ silicon electrode sections that are highly-doped with a p-type impurity and act as an electrode; and germanium layers which absorb light. The germanium photodetector further includes an upper clad layer, an n-type germanium region doped with an n-type impurity above the germanium layer, and an electrode. According to the present invention, two germanium layers are provided on the p-type silicon slab so as to miniaturize the area of the surface of the individual germanium layer in contact with the p-type silicon slab, so that the dark current due to threading dislocation can be reduced.

Photodetector

A coherent optical mixer circuit is provided that can measure a phase error without requiring a step of cutting away a delay circuit. Odd-numbered or even-numbered two of four inputs of an 4-input-and-4-output multimode interference circuit are connected to an input mechanism. The four outputs of the multimode interference circuit are all connected to an output mechanism to the exterior. Other two inputs of the multimode interference circuit are connected to two monitor waveguides. One of the monitor waveguide is longer than the other to configure a light delay circuit. The monitor waveguides constituting the light delay circuit are connected to the respective outputs of a 2-branched light splitter. The 2-branched light splitter has an input connected to a monitor light input mechanism from the exterior via a monitor input waveguide.

Coherent optical mixer circuit

A one chip-integrated digital coherent polarization multiplexing optical transmission and reception circuit with optimal optical power distribution between sending and receiving is provided by using an optical power splitter having a branching ratio of a lower asymmetry property so that the unbalanced loss depending on the polarization path can be compensated. A polarization multiplexing optical transmission and reception circuit includes a polarization multiplexing optical transmission circuit, including: the first optical power splitter for branching the optical power of continuous light outputted from a light source; one polarization optical modulation circuit at the side of a path having a higher loss connected to one output of the first optical power splitter; the second optical power splitter connected to the other output of the first optical power splitter; and the other polarization optical modulation circuit connected to one output of the second optical power splitter.

Polarization multiplexing optical transmission circuit and polarization multiplexing optical transmission and reception circuit

The visual detection of a silicon optical circuit in a conventional technique depends on sensory decision by a human who visually conducts checking, and there has been limitation in completely detecting small flaws. The optical circuit of the present invention includes, in addition to an optical circuit that implements desired functions, an optical waveguide for flaw detection which surrounds the entire optical circuit and which is sufficiently proximate to the optical waveguide of the optical circuit and grating couplers connected to the optical waveguide for detection. Based on the transmission characteristic measurement of the optical waveguide for detection using the grating couplers, a flaw within each chip can be efficiently discovered in the state of a wafer before being cut into chips. A flaw can also be discovered hierarchically by providing individual optical waveguides for detection for respective chips and by further forming one common optical waveguide for detection over the plurality of chips.

Silicon optical circuit for flaw detection in an optical circuit element

The present invention provides an optical modulator including a substrate and a phase modulation portion on the substrate. The phase modulation portion includes an optical waveguide comprised of a first clad layer, a semiconductor layer that is laminated on the first clad layer and has a refraction index higher than the first clad layer and a second clad layer that is laminated on the semiconductor layer and has a refraction index lower than the semiconductor layer, a first traveling wave electrode, and a second traveling wave electrode. The semiconductor layer includes a rib that is formed in the optical waveguide in an optical axis direction and is a core of the optical waveguide, a first slab that is formed in the optical axis direction in one side of the rib, a second slab that is formed in the optical axis direction in the other side of the rib, a third slab that is formed in the first slab in the optical axis direction at the opposite side to the rib, and a fourth slab that is formed in the second slab in the optical axis direction at the opposite side to the rib. The first slab is formed to be thinner than the rib and the third slab, and the second slab is formed to be thinner than the rib and the fourth slab.

Optical modulator

Polarization rotators of conventional techniques require forming a silicon nitride layer, which is not employed in usual fabrication of a silicon waveguide circuit. In order to employ a polarization rotator function in an optical integrated circuit, a process of forming a silicon nitride layer is added just for that purpose. This increases the fabrication time and complicates the fabrication equipment. In a polarization rotator of the present invention, the waveguide width of a center core portion of a polarization converter is made small. Thus, the intensity of an optical wave does not concentrate only at the center core portion and is more influenced by structural asymmetry. With the configuration of the polarization rotator of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently cause polarization conversion with a structure including only a silicon waveguide and no silicon nitride layer or the like formed thereon.

Growing community of inventors

Atsugi, Japan

Makoto Jizodo