Heterogeneous spectroscopic transceiving photonic integrated circuit sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10732039-B2
Application number	US-201916545362-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2019
Priority date	Sep 29, 2014
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

Described herein are optical sensing devices for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). A PIC may comprise a plurality of waveguides formed in a silicon on insulator (SOI) substrate, and a plurality of heterogeneous lasers, each laser formed from a silicon material of the SOI substrate and to emit an output wavelength comprising an infrared wavelength. Each of these lasers may comprise a resonant cavity included in one of the plurality of waveguides, and a gain material comprising a non-silicon material and adiabatically coupled to the respective waveguide. A light directing element may direct outputs of the plurality of heterogeneous lasers from the PIC towards an object, and one or more detectors may detect light from the plurality of heterogeneous lasers reflected from or transmitted through the object.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of processing light from an object using a photonic integrated circuit, the method comprising:
generating, using a tunable light source of the photonic integrated circuit, light at wavelengths that are different from one another;
coupling the light into a plurality of waveguides formed in a plane of the photonic integrated circuit;
directing the light at different wavelengths toward the object using a lens of the photonic integrated circuit;
directing, with one or more collection lenses, a portion of returning light that is returned from the object onto at least one detector that is positioned in the plane, the one or more collection lenses being coplanar with the lens; and
receiving, with the at least one detector positioned in the plane, at least the portion of returning light that is returned from the object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one detector comprises at least one of: a collection aperture or a grating.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more collection lenses are a plurality of collection lenses that surround the lens.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
directing, with the lens, at least a portion of the returning light onto the at least one detector that is positioned in the plane.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunable light source is a swept source that tunes the light to different wavelengths over time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunable light source comprises a laser and a tunable filter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunable light source comprises an LED and a tunable filter.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
with at least one coupler positioned in the plane, combining the light out of the waveguides, wherein the lens receives the combined light from the coupler positioned in the plane.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one coupler is at least one grating positioned in the plane, the at least one grating configured to couple the light out of the waveguides to a different plane.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one grating comprises a plurality of gratings, each grating configured to couple light at a wavelength out of a corresponding waveguide from the plurality of waveguides.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
modulating the light from the tunable light source with modulation frequencies that are different from one another; and
analyzing a signal from the at least one detector at the modulation frequencies.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the returning light is reflected or scattered from the object.

13. A photonic integrated circuit comprising:
a tunable light source to provide light at wavelengths that are different from one another;
a plurality of waveguides positioned in a plane to deliver the light at different wavelengths from the tunable light source, each waveguide configured to deliver light at a wavelength that differs from the wavelengths of the light from the other waveguides;
a lens configured to direct the light at the different wavelengths toward an object;
one or more collection lenses to direct a portion of returning light that is returned from the object onto a detector, the one or more collection lenses being coplanar with the lens; and
at least one detector positioned in the plane and configured to the portion of the returning light that is returned from the object.

14. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 13 , wherein the at least one detector comprises at least one of: a collection aperture or a grating.

15. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 14 , wherein the one or more collection lenses are a plurality of collection lenses that surround the lens.

16. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 13 , wherein the lens that directed the light towards the object further directs the portion of the returning light onto the at least one detector that is positioned in the plane.

17. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 13 , wherein the tunable light source is a swept source that tunes the light to different wavelengths over time.

18. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 13 , wherein the tunable light source comprises a laser and a tunable filter.

19. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 13 , further comprising:
a coupler positioned in the plane configured to combine the light out of the waveguides, wherein the lens receives the combined light from the coupler positioned in the plane and directs the combined light towards the object.

20. The photonic integrated circuit of claim 13 , further comprising:
a modulator to the light from the tunable light source with modulation frequencies that are different from one another; and
circuitry configured to analyze a signal from the at least one detector at the modulation frequencies.

Assignees

• Aurrion Inc

Inventors

• Fish Gregory Alan
• Roth Jonathan Edgar
• Buckley Brandon

Classifications

• G02F1/025 Primary

  in an optical waveguide structure (G02F1/017, {G02F1/2257} take precedence) · CPC title

• G01J3/108

  for measurement in the infrared range · CPC title

• H01S5/021

  Silicon based substrates · CPC title

• G01J3/021

  using plane or convex mirrors, parallel phase plates, or particular reflectors · CPC title

• G01J2003/102

  Plural sources · CPC title