Plasmon-assisted optical vias for photonic ASICS
| DWPI Title: Multilevel optical circuit for use in optoelectronic device, has optical vias arranged to connect first optical waveguides to second optical waveguides, and plasmon-to-photon transition region for coupling optical vias to second waveguides |
| Abstract: The present invention relates to optical vias to optically connect multilevel optical circuits. In one example, the optical via includes a surface plasmon polariton waveguide, and a first optical waveguide formed on a first substrate is coupled to a second optical waveguide formed on a second substrate by the surface plasmon polariton waveguide. In some embodiments, the first optical waveguide includes a transition region configured to convert light from an optical mode to a surface plasmon polariton mode or from a surface plasmon polariton mode to an optical mode. |
| Use: Multilevel optical circuit for use in an optoelectronic device. |
| Advantage: The circuit improves photonic integrated circuit (PIC) fabrication and prototyping, and provides lower costs. The circuit utilizes an arrangement of optoelectronic components to be optically wired together in different configurations, thus enabling a set of circuit functionality using a same base chip, and hence providing optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical conversion efficiencies. |
| Novelty: The circuit has first and second layers (301, 302) for containing first and second sets of optical waveguides (310), respectively. Optical vias are arranged to optically connect the first optical waveguides to the second optical waveguides, where each of the optical vias comprises a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguide (308). A respective photon-to-plasmon transition region (304) couples each of the optical vias to the first optical waveguides. A respective plasmon-to-photon transition region (306) couples each of the optical vias to the second optical waveguides. |
| Filed: 9/8/2015 |
| Application Number: US14847806A |
| Tech ID: SD 12754.1 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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