OPTICAL COUPLER HAVING MULTIPLE THIN-FILM LAYERS WITH SPATIALLY VARYING OPTICAL THICKNESSES
First Claim
1. An article of manufacture comprising an optical coupler, the coupler comprising:
- a substrate; and
a plurality of thin-film layers over the substrate and forming an optical waveguide, wherein at least two of the thin-film layers have spatially varying optical thicknesses.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A beam-steering device, such as a steerable electro-evanescent optical refractor, has a planar waveguide region between an incoupler and an outcoupler. Each region has a substrate and a plurality of thin-film layers, such as a subcladding layer over the substrate and a core layer over the subcladding. For at least one coupler, at least two of the thin-film layers have spatially varying optical thicknesses due to, for example, the subcladding and the core being tapered with decreasing thicknesses from the waveguide region to the corresponding facet of the BS device. Alternatively, spatially varying optical thickness can be achieved by spatially varying a layer'"'"'s refractive index. The coupler has a FWHM bandwidth and a FWHM coupling angle tolerance that greatly exceed those achievable using conventional Ulrich couplers.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An article of manufacture comprising an optical coupler, the coupler comprising:
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a substrate; and a plurality of thin-film layers over the substrate and forming an optical waveguide, wherein at least two of the thin-film layers have spatially varying optical thicknesses. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification