Lucent Technologies Inc.

At+t Corp.

Stephen Cason Shunk

Wayne Harvey Knox

Uziel Koren

Jane E Zucker

Michael D Williams

Chih-Hsiao Chen

An optical coupling system couples an optical fiber to an optical semiconductor device. A beam expander is disposed within the optical semiconductor so as to receive light from or transmit light into the optical fiber. The coupling is accomplished by disposing a layer of an index matching gel or epoxy on either surface of the semiconductor optical device or the end portion of the optical fiber and another layer of an antireflective material adjacent to the index matching gel or epoxy. The semiconductor device may include an array of optical devices, each coupled to a corresponding optical fiber via the arrangement that comprises the index matching gel and the antireflective material. The semiconductor device may also include an array of waveguides, each configured to receive light from a corresponding optical fiber.

Semiconductor optical waveguide devices with integrated beam expander

Conventional microfabrication techniques in conjunction with the precise growth of layers of single crystalline materials by epitaxial growth techniques allow the creation of electro-optic microstructures which achieve high reflectivity with only few periods of layer pairs. Standard lithographic techniques are utilized to fabricate quantum wells which are confined on both sides by air, acrylic resin, or vacuum. The quantum wells are fabricated from spatially and compositionally modulated III-V superlattices in which alternate layers of the structures are sacrificed by selective etching. The structures are patterned such that the quantum wells are suspended between support posts.

Free standing quantum well structure

Growing community of inventors

Island Heights, NJ, United States of America

Stephen Cason Shunk