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US 2026/0227568 A1Published application
Discrete-time light sources based on integrated photonics
AssigneesThe General Hospital Corporation, President and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsBenjamin Vakoc, Norman Lippok, Marko Loncar, Gage Hills, Yaowen Hu, John Davis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) light source designs are described that utilize low-loss thin film lithium niobate (TFLN)-integrated photonic circuits. The circuits and laser cavities include one or more micro-resonators (MRR), Mach-Zehnder (MZ) filters, and Michelson (MC) filters to achieve the modulation requirements for OCT, namely high-performance and high-speed output tuning.
Claims57
An integrated photonic circuit, comprising:
- an input and an output;
- a plurality of micro-ring resonators (MRRs) disposed between the input and the output, each of the plurality of MRRs including an electrode and a heater,
- each electrode being configured to shift a position of a transmission peak of an input transmission and each heater being configured to set a location of the transmission peak when a voltage at the electrode is zero, the MRRs including:
- a first MRR coupled to the input, the first MRR including a first heater and a first electrode, and
- a second MRR coupled to the output, the second MRR including a second heater and a second electrode;
- and
- a controller coupled to the first heater, the first electrode, the second heater, and the second electrode, the controller being configured to:
- control at least one of the first heater, the first electrode, the second heater, or the second electrode to emit light with a transmission peak at the output.
5 more elements
An integrated photonic circuit, comprising:
- an input and an output;
- a micro-ring resonator (MRR) disposed between the input and the output, including an electrode and a heater, wherein the electrode is configured to shift the position of transmission peaks of an input transmission and the heater is configured to set the location of the transmission peaks when a voltage to the electrodes is zero, the MRR including:
- an MRR coupled to the input, the MRR including a heater and an electrode;
- a plurality of Mach-Zehnder (MZ) filters disposed between the MRR and the output and configured to receive the transmission from the MRR, the MZ filters including:
- two arms of differing lengths to create a path imbalance between them;
- and
- a controller coupled to the heater and the electrode, the controller being configured to:
- control at least one of the heater or the electrode to emit light with a transmission peak at the output.
5 more elements
A method of operating an integrated photonic circuit, comprising:
- providing an integrated photonic circuit comprising:
- an input and an output,
- a plurality of micro-ring resonators (MRRs) disposed between the input and the output,
- each of the plurality of MRRs including an electrode and a heater,
- each electrode being configured to shift a position of a transmission peak of an input transmission and each heater being configured to set a location of the transmission peak when a voltage at the electrode is zero, and the MRRs including:
- a first MRR coupled to the input, the first MRR including a first heater and a first electrode, and
- a second MRR coupled to the output, the second MRR including a second heater and a second electrode;
- coupling a controller to the first heater, the first electrode, the second heater, and the second electrode;
- and
- controlling, using the controller, at least one of the first heater, the first electrode, the second heater, or the second electrode to emit light with a transmission peak at the output.
7 more elements
A method of operating an integrated photonic circuit, comprising:
- providing an integrated photonic circuit comprising:
- an input and an output;
- a micro-ring resonator (MRR) disposed between the input and the output, including an electrode and a heater, the electrode being configured to shift a position of a transmission peak of an input transmission and the heater being configured to set a location of the transmission peak when a voltage to the electrode is zero, the MRR being coupled to the input, the MRR including a heater and an electrode;
- disposing a plurality of Mach-Zehnder (MZ) filters between the MRR and the output,
- the MZ filters being configured to receive the transmission from the MRR, the MZ filters including two arms of differing lengths to create a path imbalance between them;
- coupling a controller the heater and the electrode;
- and
- controlling, using the controller, at least one of the heater or the electrode to emit light with a transmission peak at the output.
5 more elements
An integrated photonic circuit, comprising:
- an input and an output;
- a plurality of micro-ring resonators (MRRs) disposed between the input and the output, each of the plurality of MRRs including an electrode,
- each electrode being configured to shift a position of a transmission peak of an input transmission and to set a location of the transmission peak, the MRRs including:
- a first MRR coupled to the input, the first MRR including a first electrode, and
- a second MRR coupled to the output, the second MRR including a second electrode;
- and
- a controller coupled to the first electrode and the second electrode, the controller being configured to:
- control at least one of the first electrode or the second electrode to emit light with a transmission peak at the output.
5 more elements
An integrated photonic circuit, comprising:
- an input and an output;
- a plurality of micro-ring resonators (MRRs) disposed between the input and the output,
- the MRRs including:
- a first MRR coupled to the input, the first MRR including a first heater and a first electrode, and
- a second MRR coupled to the output, the second MRR including a second heater and a second electrode,
- the first electrode and the second electrode being configured to shift a position of a transmission peak of an input transmission, and
- the first heater and the second heater being configured to set a location of the transmission peak when a voltage at the electrode is zero;
- and
- a controller coupled to the first heater, the first electrode, the second heater, and the second electrode, the controller being configured to:
- control at least one of the first heater, the first electrode, the second heater, or the second electrode to emit light with a transmission peak at the output.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.