Optical system with phase shifting elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11852865-B2
Application number	US-202117386362-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2021
Priority date	Sep 24, 2020
Publication date	Dec 26, 2023
Grant date	Dec 26, 2023

Abstract

Configurations for an optical system with phase shifting elements are disclosed. The optical system may include a first waveguide that provides light to a second waveguide, which may be a slab waveguide. A phase shifting element may be disposed on the slab waveguide and may be heated to induce a temperature change in the slab waveguide. By increasing the temperature of the propagation region of the slab waveguide, the index of refraction of the propagation region of the slab waveguide may shift, thus causing the index of refraction of light propagating through the propagation region to shift, thus shifting the phase of the light. This may result in an optical component capable of phase shifting light for reducing coherent noise while being energy efficient and maintaining a small form factor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical system, comprising:
a first waveguide configured to provide light;
a second waveguide optically coupled to the first waveguide and configured to receive the light from the first waveguide;
a reflective element configured to reflect the light, and
multiple phase shifting elements disposed on the second waveguide and configured to:
phase shift a first portion of the light by a first phase from an initial phase; and
phase shift a second portion of the light by a second phase from the initial phase, wherein the second phase is different than the first phase.

2. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein:
the reflective element has a parabolic shape to collimate the reflected light;
the multiple phase shifting elements phase shift the first portion of light and the second portion of light by locally changing an index of refraction of the second waveguide;
the multiple phase shifting elements provide randomized phase shifts; and
the first and the second phase shifts are associated with different coherent noise views.

3. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the reflective element comprises a metal-coated surface.

4. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple phase shifting elements are metal pads.

5. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the multiple phase shifting elements are offset from a nearest neighbor along both axes of a plane in which all of the multiple phase shifting elements lie.

6. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first portion of light is phase shifted by a first phase shifting element of the multiple phase shifting elements; and
the second portion of light is phase shifted by the first phase shifting element and a second phase shifting element of the multiple phase shifting elements.

7. The optical system of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of light is phase shifted by changing a temperature of a corresponding phase shifting element of the multiple phase shifting elements.

8. The optical system of claim 7 , wherein:
the second waveguide is a slab waveguide; and
the change in the temperature of the corresponding phase shifting element locally changes an index of refraction of a portion of the slab waveguide.

9. An optical system providing randomly phase shifted light, comprising:
a strip waveguide configured to emit light;
a slab waveguide optically coupled to the strip waveguide and positioned to receive the light from the strip waveguide;
a reflective element optically coupled to and positioned on an edge of the slab waveguide and configured to:
receive the light from the slab waveguide; and
reflect the light; and

multiple phase shifting elements disposed on the slab waveguide and configured to:
phase shift a first portion of the light by a first phase; and
phase shift a second portion of the light by a second phase.

10. The optical system of claim 9 , wherein:
the slab waveguide comprises:
a first cladding layer;
a propagation region; and
a second cladding layer; and
the multiple phase shifting elements are disposed on the first cladding layer to phase shift light propagating through the slab waveguide.

11. The optical system of claim 9 , wherein:
the first portion of light propagates proximate to a first phase shifting element; and
the second portion of light propagates proximate to a second phase shifting element different than the first phase shifting element.

12. The optical system of claim 9 , wherein each of the multiple phase shifting elements comprises a metal pad.

13. The optical system of claim 9 , wherein a first phase shifting element of the multiple phase shifting elements and a second phase shifting element of the multiple phase shifting elements, wherein:
the first and second phase shifting elements are nearest neighbors;
the first and second phase shifting elements both lie in a plane; and
the first phase shifting element partially overlaps the second phase shifting element in one dimension of the plane in which the first and second phase shifting elements lie.

14. The optical system of claim 9 , wherein a current source is configured to apply random currents to the multiple phase shifting elements, thereby changing temperatures of the multiple phase shifting elements.

15. The optical system of claim 9 , wherein the reflective element is parabolic and configured to reflect light such that a wavefront of the light is a plane wave.

16. A method for providing a wavefront with randomized phase shifts of light, comprising:
emitting light from a first waveguide into a second waveguide;
reflecting the light from a reflective element that collimates the light and is positioned at an edge of the second waveguide;
shifting a phase, using a first phase shifting element disposed on the second waveguide, of a first portion of light by a first phase from an initial phase; and
shifting a phase, using a second phase shifting element disposed on the second waveguide, of a second portion of light by a second phase from the initial phase, wherein the second phase is different than the first phase.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
phase shifting of the first portion of light and the second portion of light, comprises:
heating the first phase shifting element to a first temperature; and
heating the second phase shifting element to a second temperature that is different than the first temperature.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein:
heating the first phase shifting element to the first temperature comprises applying a first current to the first phase shifting element; and
heating the second phase shifting element to the second temperature comprises applying a second current to the second phase shifting element; wherein the second current is different from the first current.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein:
heating the first phase shifting element changes an index of refraction of a first portion of the second waveguide; and
heating the second phase shifting element changes an index of refraction of a second portion of the second waveguide.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first phase is based, at least in part, on a localized index of refraction shift of the second waveguide, when the first portion of light propagates proximate to multiple phase shifting elements.

21. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
applying a unique current to the first phase shifting element and the second phase shift element, thereby heating the first and second phase shifting elements.

22. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
applying a first current to the first phase shifting element; and
applying a second current to the second phase shifting element; wherein:
the first and second currents are different and the first and second phase shifting elements are individually controllable.

23. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
applying a first time-randomized current to the first phase shifting element; and
applying a second time-randomized current to the second phase shifting element.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Tu Yongming
• Bismuto Alfredo

Classifications

• G02B6/12014 Primary

  characterised by the wavefront splitting or combining section, e.g. grooves or optical elements in a slab waveguide · CPC title

• G02B6/12016

  characterised by the input or output waveguides, e.g. tapered waveguide ends, coupled together pairs of output waveguides · CPC title

• G02F1/0147 Primary

  based on thermo-optic effects (G02F1/132 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/12004

  Combinations of two or more optical elements · CPC title

• G02B6/122

  Basic optical elements, e.g. light-guiding paths · CPC title