Photonic devices for optical and optoelectronic information processing

• US 6,882,782 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2001
• Issued: 04/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Schott AG (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: SCHOTT Glass
• Inventors: Walther, Marren, Beer, Ulrike, Peuschert, Ulrich, Käleer, Tobias, Liebald, Rainer, Conzone, Samuel D., Hayden, Joseph S., Sprengard, Ruediger, Marker, Alexander J. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunn, Drew A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ASSAF, FAYEZ G
• Application Number:
  US09/855,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20020089711A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,434 Days
• Field of Search: 428/426, 428/220, 385/49, 385/50, 385/52, 385/55, 385/58, 385/59, 385/88, 385/89, 385/37, 385/24
• US Class Current: 385/49
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/12 of the integrated circuit kind electric integrated circuits H01L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/12007 forming wavelength selective elements, e.g. multiplexer, demultiplexer
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/12019 characterised by the optical interconnection to or from the AWG devices, e.g. integration or coupling with lasers or photodiodes coupling integrated waveguide to fibre G02B6/30, to optoelectronic element G02B6/42; monolithic integration of integrated waveguides with other optical elements G02B6/12004
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/125 Bends, branchings or intersections
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/266 the optical element being an attenuator
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/2804 forming multipart couplers without wavelength selective elements, e.g. "T" couplers, star couplers
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/29355 Cascade arrangement of interferometers
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/29395 configurable, e.g. tunable or reconfigurable switching G02B6/35
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4213 the intermediate optical elements being polarisation selective optical elements G02B6/27 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4215 the intermediate optical elements being wavelength selective optical elements, e.g. variable wavelength optical modules or wavelength lockers G02B6/4246 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/424 Mounting of the optical light guide
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4245 Mounting of the opto-electronic elements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4246 Bidirectionally operating package structures

Abstract

The invention concerns a photonic device comprising a first section including a material adapted to interact with photons, a second section including a material adapted to interact with photons, with an area of said first section and an area of said second section abutting each other wherein at least a part of said first area and a part of said second area defines a low temperature bonding area to provide adaptability for a plurality of applications based on a combination of materials having specific characteristic benefits, however without introducing unwanted effects having a negative influence on the quality of optical signals.

Claims

1. A photonic device comprising:

a first section including an optical material,

a second section including an optical material, with an area of said first section and an area of said second section abutting each other,

wherein at least a part of said first area and a part of said second area define a low temperature bonding area, said first section and said second section being joined together by an interlayer which comprises a cured phosphorous-containing solution and wherein said first section and said second section form a waveguide.

2. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said low temperature bonding area connects said first area and said second area mechanically and optically.

3. A photonic device according to claim 2, wherein said low temperature bonding area comprises a surface area of said first section and a surface area of said second section which are connected by means of a low temperature bonding method.

4. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said optical material is useable for transmission of photons, reflection of photons, absorption of photons, generation of photons, emission of photons, wavelength conversion of photons, guiding of photons, diffraction of photons, refraction of photons, superimposing photons, generation of photon interference and linear, elliptic or circular polarization of photons.

5. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said second section is a surface area between a first section and a third section.

6. A photonic device according to claim 1 wherein said first section comprises a block of glass with a waveguide and said second section comprises an optical fiber.

7. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said first material has at least a portion where an index of refraction is different from an index of refraction of at least a portion of said second material.

8. A photonic device according to claim 7, wherein said photonic device is a wave guide defined in a surface area of said first material and said waveguide is covered by said second material.

9. A photonic device according to claim 8, wherein an essentially two-dimensional optical chip is defined with waveguides connecting active and passive optical components.

10. A photonic device according to claim 7, wherein said waveguide is defined in a bulk area of the first material.

11. A photonic device according to claim 10, wherein said waveguide extends oblique to a surface of said first material.

12. A photonic device according to claim 10, wherein said waveguide in said first material is connected to a waveguide extending in said second material.

13. A photonic device according to claim 10 wherein, an essentially three-dimensional optical chip is defined with waveguides connecting active and passive optical components.

14. A photonic device according to claim 13, wherein said first section comprises a waveguide extending in a bulk material and said second section comprises an optical fiber.

15. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said photonic device is a transmitter and said first section comprises a light source and said second section comprises a splitter for splitting a propagation path of photons emitted by the light source into a plurality of propagation paths.

16. A photonic device according to claim 15, wherein splitter comprises a light amplifying material amplifying light from said light source.

17. A photonic device according to claim 16, wherein said material is an active phosphate laser glass.

18. A photonic device according to claim 15, wherein a distributed Bragg reflector is connected at least to one branch of the splitter.

19. A photonic device according to claim 15, wherein a modulator is connected to at least one branch of the splitter for modulating one element of the group consisting of a phase of photons, an intensity of photons and a polarization of photons, said photons being propagating through said modulator.

20. A photonic device according to claim 19, wherein a combiner is connected to the modulator for combining propagation paths of photons and providing a combined propagation path for the A photons.

21. A photonic device according to claim 20, wherein an optical amplifier is connected to the combiner for amplifying light which propagated through the combiner.

22. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said photonic device is a transmitter and said first section comprises a light source, said light source being an element of the group consisting of light emitting diodes, laser diodes, diode arrays, laser diode arrays, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), arrays of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and glass based laser sources, and

said second section comprises an element of the group consisting of wave guides, optical fibers, beam splitters, Bragg reflectors, distributed Bragg reflectors, tunable Bragg reflectors, light modulators and wavelength dependent absorbers.

23. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said photonic device is an amplifier and said first section comprises a wavelength dependent splitter splitting different wavelength bands into different propagation paths and said second section comprises an amplifying material at least for one of the wavelength bands associated with one of the propagation paths of the wavelength dependent splitter.

24. A photonic device according to claim 23, wherein said wavelength dependent splitter splits light into a plurality of different wavelength bands each of the different wavelength bands associated with a different propagation path and said second section comprises a plurality of portions comprising an amplifying material associated with at least one of the wavelength bands associated.

25. A photonic device according to claim 24, wherein each of the portions comprising amplifying material contains a dopant being a rare earth element adapted in its amplifying characteristics to said associated wavelength band for amplifying light of the said associated wavelength band.

26. A photonic device according to claim 25, wherein each of the portions comprising amplifying material is optically pumped by a diode laser light source adapted to an absorption characteristic of said portion comprising amplifying material.

27. A photonic device according to claim 26, wherein said splitter is an arrayed waveguide grating and splits light into transmission bands essentially centered at 1.3 μ

m, 1.4 μ

m and 1.5 μ

m, said 1.3 μ

m transmission band being associated with a Praseodym doped Chalcogenide glass and said associated diode laser light source having a pump light wavelength centered at about 1020 nm, said 1.4 μ

m transmission band being associated with a Tm doped Fluoride glass and said associated diode laser light source having a pump light wavelength centered at about 800 nm and said 1.5 μ

m transmission band being associated with an Erbium doped Phosphate glass and said associated diode laser light source having a pump light wavelengths centered at about 980 nm.

28. A photonic device according to claim 23, wherein a combiner combines propagation paths extending through said plurality of portions comprising amplifying material and is connected to a waveguide for transmitting amplified light.

29. A photonic device according to one of claim 1, wherein said photonic device is an amplifier having a plurality of amplification portions comprising amplifying material and arranged serially in a direction of the propagation of light and wherein said first section comprises a first amplification portion and said second section comprises a second amplification portion.

30. A photonic device according to claim 29, wherein each of the amplifying materials is containing a dopant being a rare earth element adapted in its amplifying characteristics to an associated wavelength band for amplifying light of said associated wavelength band.

31. A photonic device according to claim 30, wherein each of the portions comprising amplifying material is optically pumped by a diode laser light source adapted to an absorption characteristic of said amplifying material.

32. A photonic device according to claim 29, wherein said plurality of amplification portions define and overall gain which has an increased gain over an extended wavelength interval in comparison to one of the said amplification portions.

33. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said photonic device is a receiver and said first section comprises a photo detector and said second section comprises at least a waveguide for guiding photons to the photo detector.

34. A photonic device according to claim 33, wherein said photo detector is a photo diode.

35. A photonic device according to claim 33, wherein said second section comprises an light amplifying material for amplification of photons propagating in said waveguide.

36. A photonic device according to claim 35, wherein said amplifying material comprises a rare earth dopant which is optically pumped by a light source.

37. A photonic device according to claim 36, wherein said optical pump light source is a laser diode pump laser.

38. A photonic device according to claim 37, wherein a waveguide section is connected with said amplifying material and wherein a photo diode is connected to a waveguide of said waveguide section for controlling a pump light intensity of a laser diode pump light source associated with said amplifying material.

39. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein

said photonic device is an optical add drop multiplexer and

said first section comprises a demultiplexer for demultiplexing light into a plurality of propagation paths and

said second section comprises optical switching means for switching between light from the multiplexer and added light,

said second section is connected to a multiplexer section for multiplexing light from a plurality of propagation paths to a single propagation path.

40. A photonic device according to claim 39, wherein said photonic device is an optical add drop multiplexer and said second section comprises a plurality of entrance ports for light to be added and a plurality of exit ports for light to be dropped, said light to be dropped being switched by said optical switching means to the exit ports.

41. A photonic device according to claim 39, wherein said switching means comprise Mach Zehnder type interferometers for essentially absorption free switching of the propagation direction of photons based on an alteration of the optical path length in at least one of the arms of the Mach Zehnder interferometer.

42. A photonic device according to claim 41, wherein said alteration of the optical path length of said at least one arm of the Mach Zehnder interferometer is introduced thermooptically.

43. A photonic device according to claim 41, wherein said alteration of the optical path length of said at least one arm of the Mach Zehnder interferometer is introduced electrooptically.

44. A photonic device according to claim 41, wherein said dropped light is amplified by an optical amplifier and said demultiplexed light is amplified by an optical amplifier.

45. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein said photonic device has at least a first waveguide in said first section comprising a material having an index of refraction n₁ with a positive temperature coefficient ∂

n₁/∂

T and with at least second waveguide in said second section comprising a material having an index of refraction n₂ with a negative temperature coefficient ∂

n₂/∂

T said first and said second waveguides being optically connected to each other.

46. A photonic device according to claim 45, wherein an overall temperature coefficient of an effective index of refraction encountered by a photon propagating through the first and second waveguide is essentially temperature independent.

47. A photonic device according to claim 45, having a third section comprising a material having an index of refraction n3 with a positive temperature coefficient ∂

n/∂

T with a third waveguide in said third section optically connected to said second waveguide.

48. A photonic device according to claim 47, wherein an overall temperature coefficient of an effective index of refraction encountered by a photon propagating through the first, second and third waveguide is essentially temperature independent.

49. A photonic device according to claim 45, wherein said photonic device is a mutliplexer/demultiplexer comprising a plurality of first waveguides, a plurality of second waveguides and a plurality of third waveguides.

50. A photonic device according to claim 1, wherein at least one material adapted to interact with photons is not a phosphate glass.

51. A photonic device comprising:

a first section including an optical material,

a second section including an optical material,

with an area of said first section and an area of said second section abutting each other and

at least a part of said first area and a part of said second area defining a low temperature bonding area comprising a condensed phosphate layer,

wherein said photonic device defines a three-dimensional waveguide structure comprising first and second portions extending perpendicular to each other.

52. The photonic device according to claim 51, defined by a plurality of optical elements which are provided in a three-dimensional arrangement.

53. The photonic device according to claim 52, wherein at least some of said optical elements are cubes.

54. The photonic device according to claim 51, comprising optical waveguides extending in three dimensions providing waveguiding in three dimensions.

55. A photonic device comprising:

a first section including an optical material,

a second section including an optical material, with an area of said first section and an area of said second section abutting each other,

wherein at least a part of said first area and a part of said second area define a low temperature bonding area comprising a cured phosphorous-containing solution.

56. A photonic device comprising:

a first section including an optical material,

a second section including an optical material, with an area of said first section and an area of said second section abutting each other,

wherein at least a part of said first area and a part of said second area define a low temperature bonding area comprising a condensed phosphate layer.

57. A photonic device according to claim 56, wherein the condensed phosphate layer is a P—

O—

P layer.

58. A photonic device comprising:

a first section including an optical material,

a second section including an optical material,

with an area of said first section and an area of said second section abutting each other and

wherein at least a part of said first area and a part of said second area define a low temperature bonding area and wherein said low temperature bonding area comprises a cured phosphorous-containing solution.