Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings (ASABG)

Details Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings (ASABG) Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings (ASABG)

1999-02-18

2001-03-27

Lee, John D. (Department: 2874)

Optical waveguides

Directional optical modulation within an optical waveguide

Electro-optic

C385S008000, C385S037000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06208773

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to Bragg gratings and, more particularly, to an addressable, adaptable, semiconductive Bragg grating device.
2. Discussion
Fiber optic Bragg gratings lack a mechanism for enabling rapid modification of their characteristics such as center wavelength and spectral shape. Semiconductive Bragg gratings offer more control over center wavelength and spectral shape. A typical single mode semiconductor waveguide has a core thickness of several thousand angstroms, and an electrode placed on the top and bottom of the waveguide using a conducting substrate. A contact layer is placed on top with an interconnect metal. To vary the refractive index of the semiconductor, current is injected across the electrodes.
Although single mode semiconductive waveguides provide an advantage over fiber optic waveguides, they lack variability. As such, it is desirable to provide a semiconductive Bragg grating having a plurality of individual addressable portions along its length such that an adaption rate of several hundred MHz can be achieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above and other objects are provided by a Bragg grating device including a semiconductive optical waveguide. The semiconductive optical waveguide has a Bragg grating structure formed along its length. A first plurality of electrodes are disposed on a first surface of the optical waveguide and individually communicate with select members of the Bragg grating structure. A second plurality of electrodes are disposed on a second surface of the optical waveguide and individually communicate with select members of the Bragg grating structure such that individual electrodes of the second plurality of electrodes are electrically coupled to individual electrodes of the first plurality of electrodes via the Bragg grating structure. As such, a plurality of addressable portions of the Bragg grating device are defined. A plurality of electrical leads are electrically coupled between individual electrodes of the second plurality of electrodes and a power source such that a refractive index of each portion along the Bragg grating structure may be selectively varied along the length of the optical waveguide. As a further feature of the present invention, a controller is disposed between the plurality of electrical leads and the power source for varying a magnitude and distribution of current among the individual portions of the Bragg grating structure to effectuate different optical applications.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5416866 (1995-05-01), Sahlén
patent: 5572616 (1996-11-01), Aoki et al.
patent: 6008675 (1999-12-01), Handa
Jean-Pierre Weber, “Optimization of the Carrier-Induced Effective Index Change in InGaAsP Waveguides—Application to Tunable Bragg Filters”, p. 1801-1816, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, vol. 30, No. 8, Aug. 1994.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings (ASABG) does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings (ASABG), we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings (ASABG) will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2494635