Injection locked on-chip laser to external on-chip resonator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11467262-B2
Application number	US-202016836302-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2020
Priority date	Mar 31, 2020
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

Various technologies described herein pertain to injection locking on-chip laser(s) and external on-chip resonator(s). A system includes a first integrated circuit chip and a second integrated circuit chip. The first integrated circuit chip and the second integrated circuit chip are separate integrated circuit chips and can be optically coupled to each other. The first integrated circuit chip includes a laser configured to emit light via a first path and a second path. The second integrated circuit chip includes a resonator formed of an electrooptic material. The resonator can receive the light emitted by the laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the first path and return feedback light to the laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the first path. The feedback light can cause injection locking of the laser to the resonator to control the light emitted by the laser (e.g., via the first and second paths).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a first integrated circuit chip, comprising:
a laser configured to emit light via a first path and a second path; and

a second integrated circuit chip, the second integrated circuit chip and the first integrated circuit chip being separate integrated circuit chips, the second integrated circuit chip being optically coupled with the first integrated circuit chip, the second integrated circuit chip comprising:
a resonator formed of an electrooptic material, the resonator configured to receive the light emitted by the laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the first path and return feedback light to the laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the first path, wherein the feedback light causes injection locking of the laser to the resonator to control the light emitted by the laser via the second path.

2. The system of claim 1 , the first integrated circuit chip further comprises a lidar optical engine, the lidar optical engine comprises one or more lidar components, wherein the light emitted by the laser via the second path is inputted to the lidar optical engine.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the resonator is a single mode optical resonator.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the resonator is a closed-loop waveguide.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the resonator is formed of at least one of lithium niobate or lithium tantalate.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the resonator has a width in a range from 1 micron to 3 microns.

7. The system of claim 1 , the second integrated circuit further comprises electrodes adjacent to the resonator, wherein a change in voltage applied across the electrodes causes a corresponding change in frequency of a waveguide mode of the resonator.

8. The system of claim 1 , the second integrated circuit chip further comprises:
a waveguide, wherein an end of the waveguide is configured to be optically coupled to the first integrated circuit chip; and
a mirror;
wherein the resonator comprises
a first coupling region evanescently coupled to the waveguide; and
a second coupling region evanescently coupled to the mirror.

9. The system of claim 8 , the second integrated circuit chip further comprises electrodes adjacent to the waveguide, wherein a change in voltage applied across the electrodes causes a corresponding phase shift of the feedback light returned to the laser of the first integrated circuit chip.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first integrated circuit chip further comprises a differing laser configured to emit light via a differing first path and a differing second path; and
the second integrated circuit chip further comprises a differing resonator formed of the electrooptic material, the differing resonator configured to receive the light emitted by the differing laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the differing first path and return feedback light to the differing laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the differing first path, wherein the feedback light returned by the differing resonator causes injection locking of the differing laser to the differing resonator to control the light emitted by the differing laser via the differing second path.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein an optical frequency of the laser is offset from an optical frequency of the differing laser.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the light emitted by the laser via the second path is phase shifted relative to the light emitted by the differing laser via the differing second path.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the light emitted by the laser via the second path and the light emitted by the differing laser via the differing second path are modulated with differing chirp patterns.

14. A system, comprising:
a first integrated circuit chip, comprising:
a first laser; and
a second laser;
a first lidar optical engine; and
a second lidar optical engine; and

a second integrated circuit chip, the second integrated circuit chip and the first integrated circuit chip being separate integrated circuit chips, the second integrated circuit chip comprising:
a first resonator formed of an electrooptic material, the first resonator configured to receive light emitted by the first laser of the first integrated circuit chip and return feedback light to the first laser of the first integrated circuit chip, wherein the feedback light returned by the first resonator causes injection locking of the first laser to the first resonator to control the light emitted by the first laser and inputted to the first lidar optical engine; and
a second resonator formed of the electrooptic material, the second resonator configured to receive light emitted by the second laser of the first integrated circuit chip and return feedback light to the second laser of the first integrated circuit chip, wherein the feedback light returned by the second resonator causes injection locking of the second laser to the second resonator to control the light emitted by the second laser and inputted to the second lidar optical engine.

15. The system of claim 14 , the first integrated circuit chip further comprises:
a multiplexer configured to combine light beams outputted from the first lidar optical engine and the second lidar optical engine on a single output channel for transmission into an environment; and
a demultiplexer configured to separate returned light beams received responsive to the transmission from the environment for the first lidar optical engine and the second lidar optical engine on a single return channel.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein an optical frequency of the first laser is offset from an optical frequency of the second laser.

17. The system of claim 14 , wherein the light emitted by the first laser is phase shifted relative to the light emitted by the second laser.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the light emitted by the first laser and the light emitted by the second laser are modulated with differing chirp patterns.

19. A lidar sensor system, comprising:
a first integrated circuit chip, comprising:
a laser configured to emit light via a first path and a second path; and

a second integrated circuit chip, the second integrated circuit chip and the first integrated circuit chip being separate integrated circuit chips, the second integrated circuit chip being optically coupled with the first integrated circuit chip, the second integrated circuit chip comprising:
a resonator formed of an electrooptic material, the resonator configured to receive the light emitted by the laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the first path and return feedback light to the laser of the first integrated circuit chip via the first path, wherein the feedback light causes injection locking of the laser to the resonator to control the light emitted by the laser via the second path; and
a lidar optical engine, the lidar optical engine comprises one or more optical components, wherein the light emitted by the laser via the second path is inputted to the lidar optical engine.

20. The lidar sensor system of claim 19 being included in an autonomous vehicle.

Assignees

• Gm Cruise Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Levy Jacob
• Chakrabarty Ayan
• Fathipour Vala
• El Amili Karim

Classifications

• H01S5/142 Primary

  which comprises an additional resonator · CPC title

• H01S5/06206

  Controlling the frequency of the radiation, e.g. tunable twin-guide lasers [TTG] · CPC title

• H01S3/106

  by controlling devices placed within the cavity ({H01S3/10076,} H01S3/13 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01S5/4087

  emitting more than one wavelength · CPC title

• G01S17/34

  using transmission of continuous, frequency-modulated waves while heterodyning the received signal, or a signal derived therefrom, with a locally-generated signal related to the contemporaneously transmitted signal · CPC title