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US 11,700,077 B2Granted
Semiconductor optical amplifier with asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometers
AssigneeOpenLight Photonics, Inc.
InventorsErik Johan Norberg, John M. Garcia, Brian Robert Koch, Gregory Alan Fish
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described herein are photonic integrated circuits (PICs) comprising a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) to output a signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths, a sensor to detect data associated with a power value of each wavelength of the output signal of the SOA, a filter to filter power values of one or more of the wavelengths of the output signal of the SOA, and control circuitry to control the filter to reduce a difference between a pre-determined power value of each filtered wavelength of the output signal of the SOA and the detected power value of each filtered wavelength of the output signal of the SOA.
Claims16
A photonic integrated circuit comprising:
- a semiconductor optical amplifier comprising a plurality of stages, the semiconductor optical amplifier configured to amplify a beam that includes a plurality of wavelengths;
- a temperature sensor to detect temperature changes of the photonic integrated circuit, the photonic integrated circuit not being temperature controlled such that the semiconductor optical amplifier is uncooled and an operating temperature of the semiconductor optical amplifier varies;
- a plurality of semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometers coupled to the semiconductor optical amplifier, each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer of the plurality of semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometers coupled to a single stage of the plurality of stages of the semiconductor optical amplifier, each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer comprising an integrated resistive element to cause a loss in an amplified beam received from a respective stage of the semiconductor optical amplifier to which it is coupled, each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer having a free spectral range that comprises the plurality of wavelengths amplified by the semiconductor optical amplifier;
- and
- control circuitry comprising a lookup table to control the integrated resistive element of each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer in response to the temperature sensor detecting a temperature change of the photonic integrated circuit, the integrated resistive element controlling a tuned loss applied to a range of lower wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths of the amplified beam for each stage of the plurality of stages of the semiconductor optical amplifier to compensate for excess gain added to the range of lower wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths due to the temperature change.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- amplifying, with a semiconductor optical amplifier that comprises a plurality of stages in a photonic integrated circuit, a beam that includes a plurality of wavelengths to form an amplified beam for each stage of the plurality of stages;
- detecting, with a temperature sensor in the photonic integrated circuit, a temperature change, the photonic integrated circuit not being temperature controlled such that the semiconductor optical amplifier is uncooled and an operating temperature of the semiconductor optical amplifier varies;
- receiving the amplified beam from each stage of the semiconductor optical amplifier using a plurality of semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometers, each semiconductor Mach- Zehnder interferometer of the plurality of semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometers coupled to a single stage of the semiconductor optical amplifier in the photonic integrated circuit, each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer comprising an integrated resistive element to cause a loss in the amplified beam received from a respective stage of the semiconductor optical amplifier to which it is coupled;
- and
- controlling, using control circuitry of the photonic integrated circuit, the integrated resistive element of each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer integrated in the photonic integrated circuit in response to the temperature sensor detecting the temperature change of the photonic integrated circuit, each semiconductor Mach-Zehnder interferometer having a free spectral range that comprises the plurality of wavelengths amplified by the semiconductor optical amplifier. the integrated resistive element controlling a tuned loss applied to a range of lower wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths of the amplified beam for each stage of the plurality of stages of the semiconductor optical amplifier to compensate for excess gain added to the range of lower wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths due to the temperature change.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.