Optoelectronic component for generating and radiating a microwave-frequency signal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10067405-B2
Application number	US-201515537344-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2015
Priority date	Dec 17, 2014
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

An optoelectronic component for generating and radiating an electromagnetic signal exhibiting a frequency lying between 30 GHz and 10 THz referred to as a microwave frequency, comprises: a planar guide configured to confine and propagate freely in a plane XY a first and a second optical wave exhibiting an optical frequency difference, referred to as a heterodyne beat, equal to the microwave frequency, a system for injecting the optical waves into the planar guide, a photo-mixer coupled to the planar guide to generate, on the basis of the first optical wave and of the second optical wave, a signal exhibiting the microwave frequency, the photo-mixer having an elongated shape exhibiting along an axis Y a large dimension greater than or equal to half the wavelength of the signal, the injection system configured so that the optical waves overlap in the planar guide and are coupled with the photo-mixer over a length along the axis Y at least equal to half the wavelength of the signal, the photo-mixer thus being able to radiate the signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optoelectronic component or generating and radiating an electromagnetic signal exhibiting a frequency between 30 GHz and 10 THz, being a microwave frequency, comprising:
a planar guide configured to confine and propagate freely in an X-Y plane a first optical wave and a second optical wave exhibiting an optical frequency difference, being a heterodyne beat, equal to said microwave frequency,
an injection system for injecting said first optical wave and said second optical wave into said planar guide,
a photo-mixer coupled to said planar guide so as to generate, on the basis of the first optical wave and of the second optical wave, a signal exhibiting said microwave frequency,
said photo-mixer having an elongated shape exhibiting along a Y-axis a large dimension greater than or equal to half the wavelength of said signal,
said injection system being configured so that said first optical wave and said second optical wave overlap in said planar guide and are coupled with the photo-mixer over a length along the Y-axis at least equal to half the wavelength of said signal, the photo-mixer thus being able to radiate said signal.

2. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said planar guide comprises a propagation layer between two confinement layers.

3. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the photo-mixer is deposited on a confinement layer and said coupling with the photo-mixer is performed by evanescent waves.

4. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the planar guide is configured to confine optical waves each exhibiting a wavelength of approximately 1.5 μm.

5. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said planar guide comprises an amplifying part able to amplify said first optical wave and second optical wave.

6. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the injection system is configured so that injected optical waves exhibit strong divergence.

7. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said injection system comprises at least one monodimensional guide configured to confine optical waves in such a way that said first optical wave and said second optical wave propagate along their respective directions of propagation.

8. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the monodimensional guide consists of a prolongation of the planar guide comprising a strip-shaped confinement layer.

9. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the injection system comprises at least one optical fiber.

10. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the injection system comprises a single injection device.

11. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said single injection device is configured to inject the first optical wave and second optical wave in such a way that said first optical wave and said second optical wave propagate along a direction of propagation substantially equal to an X-axis perpendicular to the Y-axis.

12. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said injection system comprises a first injection device configured to inject the first optical wave in such a way that said first optical wave propagates along a first direction of propagation lying in the X-Y plane, and a second injection device configured to inject the second optical wave in such a way that said second optical wave propagates along a second direction of propagation lying in the X-Y plane and different from the first direction of propagation.

13. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 12 , wherein a single one of said first and second injection devices exhibits a direction of propagation perpendicular to said Y-axis.

14. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 12 wherein the planar guide furthermore comprises at least one deflector situated on the optical path of one of the first optical wave and second optical wave and configured to deflect said one of the first optical wave and second optical wave in such a way as to deviate it by a chosen angle of optical deviation,
so that the signal radiated by said photo-mixer is able to be deviated according to an angle of deviation dependent on said chosen angle of optical deviation.

15. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said deflector is an electro-optical modulator configured to modify the refractive index of a portion of the propagation layer, said portion exhibiting a prismatic shape in the X-Y plane.

16. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 14 , wherein said deflector is a phase modulator comprising a plurality of independently controlled discrete phase-shifters.

17. The optoelectronic component as claimed in claim 16 , wherein each discrete phase-shifter is an electro-optical modulator configured to modify the refractive index of a portion of the propagation layer.

Assignees

• Thales Sa
• Alcatel Lucent

Inventors

• Van Dijk Frédéric

Classifications

• G02F1/3534 Primary

  Three-wave interaction, e.g. sum-difference frequency generation (G02F1/3532 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N21/3581

  using far infrared light; using Terahertz radiation · CPC title

• H01S5/4087

  emitting more than one wavelength · CPC title

• G02F2/002

  using optical mixing · CPC title

• H04B2210/006

  Devices for generating or processing an RF signal by optical means · CPC title