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US 11,588,302 B2Granted
Optical switches
AssigneeSeagate Technology LLC
InventorsMark A. Gubbins, Marcus B. Mooney, Aidan D. Goggin, Paula F. McElhinney, Debra A. McNeill, Fadi El Hallak, Brendan Lafferty
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Exemplary methods and apparatus may provide optical gates and optical switches using such optical gates. Each optical gate may include a semiconductor optical amplifier that is placed in a substrate. The semiconductor optical amplifier may be coupled to input and output couplers to receive and selectively output optical signals into and out of the substrate.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a substrate comprising silicon;
- a plurality of inputs to receive optical signals, the plurality of inputs positioned on the substrate;
- a plurality of outputs to output the optical signals, the plurality of outputs positioned on the substrate;
- and
- a plurality of III-V compound semiconductor optical amplifiers mechanically placed in cavities in the substrate to optically couple the plurality of inputs and the plurality of outputs to provide a switch arranged between the plurality of inputs and the plurality of outputs, the plurality of semiconductor optical amplifiers operable to act as gates for the optical signals between the plurality of inputs and the plurality of outputs,
- wherein the plurality of III-V compound semiconductor optical amplifiers are integrated within the cavities in the substrate defining a gap between each of the plurality of III-V compound semiconductor optical amplifiers and other silicon-based structures of the substrate that is less than or equal to 500 nanometers.
3 more elements
An optical gate comprising:
- a substrate comprising:
- a base layer, and
- a device layer on the base layer;
- input and output optical couplers comprising silicon and formed in the device layer, the optical couplers to transmit light into and out of the device layer;
- and
- a III-V semiconductor material semiconductor optical amplifier mechanically placed in a cavity of the device layer, the semiconductor optical amplifier comprising:
- an optical amplifier input optically coupled to the input optical coupler to receive an optical signal, and
- an optical amplifier output optically coupled to the output optical coupler to selectively output the received optical signal,
- wherein the III-V semiconductor material semiconductor optical amplifier is integrated within the cavity of the device layer defining a first gap of less than or equal to 500 nanometers between the semiconductor optical amplifier input and the input optical coupler and a second gap of less than or equal to 500 nanometers between the semiconductor optical amplifier output and the output optical coupler.
6 more elements
A method comprising:
- providing a substrate comprising:
- a base layer, and
- a device layer on the base layer;
- forming input and output optical couplers in the device layer, the optical couplers to transmit light into and out of the device layer;
- defining a cavity in the device layer;
- providing a semiconductor optical amplifier comprising:
- an optical amplifier input to receive an optical signal, and
- an optical amplifier output to selectively output the received optical signal;
- and
- mechanically placing the semiconductor optical amplifier in the cavity optically coupling the optical amplifier input to the input optical coupler and the optical amplifier output to the output optical coupler,
- wherein the semiconductor optical amplifier is integrated within the cavity in the device layer defining a first gap of less than or equal to 500 nanometers between the optical amplifier input and the input optical coupler and a second gap of less than or equal to 500 nanometers between the optical amplifier output and the output optical coupler.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.