Coolerless photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for WDM transmission networks and PICs operable with a floating signal channel grid changing with temperature but with fixed channel spacing in the floating grid
US7636522B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 14, 2005 |
| Grant date | Dec 22, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 23, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/4087
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A coolerless photonic integrated circuit (PIC), such as a semiconductor electro-absorption modulator/laser (EML) or a coolerless optical transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC), may be operated over a wide temperature range at temperatures higher then room temperature without the need for ambient cooling or hermetic packaging. Since there is large scale integration of N optical transmission signal WDM channels on a TxPIC chip, a new DWDM system approach with novel sensing schemes and adaptive algorithms provides intelligent control of the PIC to optimize its performance and to allow optical transmitter and receiver modules in DWDM systems to operate uncooled. Moreover, the wavelength grid of the on-chip channel laser sources may thermally float within a WDM wavelength band where the individual emission wavelengths of the laser sources are not fixed to wavelength peaks along a standardized wavelength grid but rather may move about with changes in ambient temperature. However, control is maintained such that the channel spectral spacing between channels across multiple signal channels, whether such spacing is periodic or aperiodic, between adjacent laser sources in the therma…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.