Optical phase shifter device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11960192-B2
Application number	US-202217977075-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2022
Priority date	Apr 28, 2016
Publication date	Apr 16, 2024
Grant date	Apr 16, 2024

Abstract

An optical phase shifter may include a waveguide core that has a top surface, and a semiconductor contact that is laterally displaced relative to the waveguide core and is electrically connected to the waveguide core. A top surface of the semiconductor contact is above the top surface of the waveguide core. The waveguide core may include a p-type core region and an n-type core region. A p-type semiconductor region may be in physical contact with the n-type core region of the waveguide core, and an n-type semiconductor region may be in physical contact with the p-type core region of the waveguide core. A phase shifter region and a light-emitting region may be disposed at different depth levels, and the light-emitting region may emit light from a phase shifter region that is in a position adjacent to the light-emitting region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated optical device, comprising:
a phase shifter layer comprising an array of phase shifter regions formed from one or more materials including at least a first material, each phase shifter region comprising a first plurality of waveguides and at least one phase shifter for at least a portion of the first plurality of waveguides, wherein each phase shifter region of the array of phase shifter regions is located at a respective position within the array of phase shifter regions;
a splitting network layer, located below the phase shifter layer, comprising a plurality of splitting distribution networks, wherein at least two different splitting distribution networks are configured to couple light provided from or to a different respective initial waveguide to or from a different respective phase shifter region of the array of phase shifter regions; and
an antenna layer, located above the phase shifter layer at a light emitting/receiving portion of the integrated optical device, comprising an array of light-emitting regions formed from one or more materials including at least a second material, each light-emitting region comprising a second plurality of waveguides, wherein each light-emitting region of the array of light-emitting regions is located at a respective position within the array of light-emitting regions, and wherein each light-emitting region of the array of light-emitting regions is configured to emit light received from a phase shifter region located at a position adjacent to a position of the light-emitting region.

2. The integrated optical device of claim 1 , wherein each waveguide of the first plurality of waveguides of a phase shifter region at a first position within the array of phase shifter regions is coupled to a respective waveguide of the second plurality of waveguides of a light-emitting region at a second position within the array of light-emitting regions via an optical layer transition, wherein the second position is adjacent to the first position.

3. The integrated optical device of claim 2 , wherein the optical layer transition is selected from the group consisting of an inverse taper element, a grating-to-grating coupler, and a periscope.

4. The integrated optical device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a transition layer between the phase shifter layer and the emitting layer, wherein the transition layer comprises an array of transition regions, each transition region comprising a third plurality of waveguides, wherein each transition region of the array of transition regions is located at a respective position within the array of transition regions, and wherein each light-emitting region of the array of light-emitting regions is configured to couple light received from a respective phase shifter region to a respective light-emitting region.

5. The integrated optical device of claim 1 , wherein the different respective initial waveguides are coupled to different respective light sources providing light to the two different splitting distribution networks, and the different respective light sources are phase-locked with each other.

6. The integrated optical device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the initial waveguides is coupled to: a light source, a butt-coupled fiber, or a return signal receiver.

7. The integrated optical device of claim 1 , wherein:
each waveguide of the second plurality of waveguides of a first light-emitting region is above or below a respective waveguide of the first plurality of waveguides of a first phase shifter region array; and
each waveguide of the first plurality of waveguides of the first phase shifter region has a different propagation constant than the respective waveguide of the second plurality of waveguides of the first light-emitting region that is above or below each waveguide of the first plurality of waveguides.

8. The integrated optical device of claim 1 , wherein the first material comprises at least one of: intrinsic silicon, doped silicon, silicon-germanium, germanium, bismuth ferrite, vanadium oxide, graphene, liquid crystals, or a transparent conductive oxide.

9. The integrated optical device of claim 8 , wherein the second material comprises at least one of: poly-silicon, intrinsic silicon, doped silicon, silicon nitride, liquid crystals, aluminum nitride, indium titanium oxide, germanium, or a metal.

10. A method for fabricating an integrated optical device, the method comprising:
forming a phase shifter layer comprising an array of phase shifter regions from one or more materials including at least a first material, each phase shifter region comprising a first plurality of waveguides and at least one phase shifter for at least a portion of the first plurality of waveguides, wherein each phase shifter region of the array of phase shifter regions is located at a respective position within the array of phase shifter regions;
forming a splitting network layer, located below the phase shifter layer, comprising a plurality of splitting distribution networks, wherein at least two different splitting distribution networks are configured to couple light provided from or to a different respective initial waveguide to or from a different respective phase shifter region of the array of phase shifter regions; and
forming an antenna layer, located above the phase shifter layer at a light emitting/receiving portion of the integrated optical device, comprising an array of light-emitting regions from one or more materials including at least a second material, each light-emitting region comprising a second plurality of waveguides, wherein each light-emitting region of the array of light-emitting regions is located at a respective position within the array of light-emitting regions, and wherein each light-emitting region of the array of light-emitting regions is configured to emit light received from a phase shifter region located at a position adjacent to a position of the light-emitting region.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each waveguide of the first plurality of waveguides of a phase shifter region at a first position within the array of phase shifter regions is coupled to a respective waveguide of the second plurality of waveguides of a light-emitting region at a second position within the array of light-emitting regions via an optical layer transition, wherein the second position is adjacent to the first position.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the optical layer transition is selected from the group consisting of an inverse taper element, a grating-to-grating coupler, and a periscope.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
forming a transition layer between the phase shifter layer and the emitting layer, wherein the transition layer comprises an array of transition regions, each transition region comprising a third plurality of waveguides, wherein each transition region of the array of transition regions is located at a respective position within the array of transition regions, and wherein each light-emitting region of the array of light-emitting regions is configured to couple light received from a respective phase shifter region to a respective light-emitting region.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the different respective initial waveguides are coupled to different respective light sources providing light to the two different splitting distribution networks, and the different respective light sources are phase-locked with each other.

15. The method of claim 10 , at least one of the initial waveguides is coupled to: a light source, a butt-coupled fiber, or a return signal receiver.

Assignees

• Analog Photonics LLC

Inventors

• Watts Michael
• Hosseini Ehsan
• Poulton Christopher
• Timurdogan Erman

Classifications

• G02F1/225 Primary

  in an optical waveguide structure · CPC title

• G02B6/1223

  high refractive index type, i.e. high-contrast waveguides · CPC title

• G02B6/29331

  operating by evanescent wave coupling · CPC title

• G02F1/025

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

• G02F1/292

  by controlled diffraction or phased-array beam steering (controlled diffraction for optical switching G02F1/31) · CPC title