Electro-optic combiner and associated methods

US11493694B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Ayar Labs, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Pavan Bhargava · Emeryville, US
• Derek Van Orden · San Francisco, US
• Mark Wade · Berkeley, US
• John Fini · Metuchen, US
• Chen Sun · Berkeley, US
• Milos Popovic · Somerville, US
• Anatol Khilo · Lexington, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 21, 2021
• Grant date: Nov 8, 2022
• Expiry date: Jun 21, 2041

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B6/34
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An electro-optic combiner includes a polarization splitter and rotator (PSR) that directs a portion of incoming light having a first polarization through a first optical waveguide (OW). The PSR rotates a portion of the incoming light having a second polarization to the first polarization to provide polarization-rotated light. The PSR directs the polarization-rotated light through a second OW. Each of the first and second OW's has a respective combiner section. The first and second OW combiner sections extend parallel to each other and have opposite light propagation directions. A plurality of ring resonators is disposed between the combiner sections of the first and second OW's and within an evanescent optically coupling distance of both the first and second OW's. Each of ring resonators operates at a respective resonant wavelength to optically couple light from the combiner section of the first OW into the combiner section of the second OW.