Spectrally interleaved optical transceivers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12355492-B2
Application number	US-202418896129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2024
Priority date	Sep 27, 2023
Publication date	Jul 8, 2025
Grant date	Jul 8, 2025

Abstract

Described herein are wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transceivers configured to support fast, bidirectional communication over optical channels. An optical transceiver comprises a transmitter, a receiver, an input/output (I/O) port and an optical interleaver. The transmitter comprises a first bus waveguide and a plurality of optical modulators coupled to the first bus waveguide, each of the optical modulators being resonant at a respective wavelengths in a first wavelength set. The receiver comprises a second bus waveguide and a plurality of optical filters coupled to the second bus waveguide, each of the optical filters being resonant at a respective wavelength in a second wavelength set. The (I/O) port is coupled to an optical channel. The optical interleaver is configured to selectively couple light having wavelengths in the first wavelength set from the first waveguide bus to the I/O port, and selectively couple light having wavelengths in the second wavelength set from the I/O port to the second bus waveguide.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical transceiver, comprising:
a transmitter comprising a first bus waveguide and a plurality of optical modulators coupled to the first bus waveguide, each of the plurality of optical modulators being resonant at a respective wavelength in a first wavelength set;
a receiver comprising a second bus waveguide and a plurality of optical filters coupled to the second bus waveguide, each of the plurality of optical filters being resonant at a respective wavelength in a second wavelength set;
an input/output (I/O) port configured to be coupled to an optical channel, wherein the I/O port forms part of a transmit path coupling the transmitter to the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port and wherein the I/O port forms part of a receive path coupling the receiver to the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port; and
an optical interleaver comprising a multi-stage Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) having a first coupler coupled to both the first and second bus waveguides, a second coupler coupled to the I/O port, and a third coupler coupled to both a first stage of the multi-stage MZI and a second stage of the multi-stage MZI, wherein the multi-stage MZI is configured to:
selectively couple light having carrier wavelengths in the first wavelength set from the first waveguide bus to the I/O port, and
selectively couple light having carrier wavelengths in the second wavelength set from the I/O port to the second bus waveguide.

2. The optical transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the first stage of the multi-stage MZI defines a first optical path length difference and the second stage of the multi-stage MZI defines a second optical path length difference different from the first optical path length difference.

3. The optical transceiver of claim 2 , wherein the first optical path length difference is about twice the second optical path length difference.

4. The optical transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the carrier wavelengths of the first wavelength set are contiguous and the carrier wavelengths of the second wavelength set are contiguous.

5. The optical transceiver of claim 4 , wherein the optical interleaver further comprises first and second optical arms, wherein an optical path length difference between the first and second optical arms is configured to cause the optical interleaver to:
selectively couple light having the contiguous carrier wavelengths in the first wavelength set from the first waveguide bus to the I/O port, and
selectively couple light having the contiguous carrier wavelengths in the second wavelength set from the I/O port to the second bus waveguide.

6. The optical transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the carrier wavelengths of the first wavelength set alternate with the carrier wavelengths of the second wavelength set.

7. The optical transceiver of claim 6 , wherein the optical interleaver further comprises first and second optical arms, wherein an optical path length difference between the first and second optical arms is configured to cause the optical interleaver to:
selectively couple light having the alternating carrier wavelengths in the first wavelength set from the first waveguide bus to the I/O port, and
selectively couple light having the alternating carrier wavelengths in the second wavelength set from the I/O port to the second bus waveguide.

8. The optical transceiver of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter, the receiver, the I/O port and the optical interleaver are integrated on a common substrate, and wherein the I/O port comprises a grating coupler or an edge coupler.

9. An optical transceiver, comprising:
a transmitter comprising a first bus waveguide and a plurality of optical modulators coupled to the first bus waveguide, each of the plurality of optical modulators being resonant at a respective wavelength in a first wavelength set;
a receiver comprising a second bus waveguide and a plurality of optical filters coupled to the second bus waveguide, each of the plurality of optical filters being resonant at a respective wavelength in a second wavelength set;
an input/output (I/O) port configured to be coupled to an optical channel, wherein the I/O port forms part of a transmit path coupling the transmitter to the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port and wherein the I/O port forms part of a receive path coupling the receiver to the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port;
an optical interleaver configured to:
selectively couple light having carrier wavelengths in the first wavelength set from the first waveguide bus to the I/O port, and
selectively couple light having carrier wavelengths in the second wavelength set from the I/O port to the second bus waveguide; and

an optical polarization controller coupled between the I/O port and the optical interleaver, wherein the optical polarization controller is configured to provide a pair of output transverse electric (TE) modes to the optical interleaver upon receiving an input TE mode and an input transverse magnetic (TM) mode from the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port.

10. The optical transceiver of claim 9 , wherein the optical interleaver comprises at least one interferometer selected from the group consisting of a multimode interferometer (MMI) device, an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and an asymmetric Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI).

11. The optical transceiver of claim 9 , wherein the carrier wavelengths of the first wavelength set are contiguous and the carrier wavelengths of the second wavelength set are contiguous.

12. The optical transceiver of claim 9 , wherein the carrier wavelengths of the first wavelength set alternate with the carrier wavelengths of the second wavelength set.

13. The optical transceiver of claim 9 , wherein the transmitter, the receiver, the I/O port and the optical interleaver are integrated on a common substrate, and wherein the I/O port comprises a grating coupler or an edge coupler.

14. An optical transceiver, comprising:
a transmitter comprising a first bus waveguide and a plurality of optical modulators coupled to the first bus waveguide, each of the plurality of optical modulators being resonant at a respective wavelength in a first wavelength set;
a receiver comprising a second bus waveguide and a plurality of optical filters coupled to the second bus waveguide, each of the plurality of optical filters being resonant at a respective wavelength in a second wavelength set;
an input/output (I/O) port configured to be coupled to an optical channel, wherein the I/O port forms part of a transmit path coupling the transmitter to the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port and wherein the I/O port forms part of a receive path coupling the receiver to the optical channel when the optical channel is coupled to the I/O port; and
an optical interleaver configured to:
selectively couple light having carrier wavelengths in the first wavelength set from the first waveguide bus to the I/O port, and
selectively couple light having carrier wavelengths in the second wavelength set from the I/O port to the second bus waveguide,

wherein the carrier wavelengths in the first wavelength set are spaced from one another by a spectral separation in a range of 1.72 nm-2.86 nm and the carrier wavelengths in the second wavelength set are spaced from one another by a spectral separation in a range of 1.72 nm-2.86 nm.

15. The optical transceiver of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of optical modulators have free spectral

Assignees

• Lightmatter Inc

Inventors

• Liu Kuang
• Shah Binoy
• Sane Sandeep
• Rosenberg Jessie
• Kumar Nikhil
• Kopa Anthony
• Dorta-Quinones Carlos
• Klinger Steven
• Bunandar Darius
• Harris Nicholas C
• Srinivasan Srinivasan Ashwyn
• Greenwald Elliot

Classifications

• G02B6/29386

  Interleaving or deinterleaving, i.e. separating or mixing subsets of optical signals, e.g. combining even and odd channels into a single optical signal · CPC title

• G02B6/29352

  in a light guide · CPC title

• G02B6/29335

  Evanescent coupling to a resonator cavity, i.e. between a waveguide mode and a resonant mode of the cavity (wavelength selective means based on resonator cavity coupled non-evanescently G02B6/29356, G02B6/29358) · CPC title

• H04B10/40 Primary

  Transceivers · CPC title

• G02B6/4246

  Bidirectionally operating package structures · CPC title