Fiber coupler chip
AssigneePsiquantum, Corp.
InventorsEric F. Dudley, Mihai Dorian Vidrighin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fiber coupler chip can receive light coupled from a plurality of fibers. The fiber coupler chip can reduce a mode size of the light from a. larger size of the fiber to smaller waveguide size using a mode converters or other components. The fiber coupler chip can couple the light using free space coupling to a photonic integrated circuit, where the interface is mode matched waveguide-to-waveguide low loss coupling.
Claims20
A method for edge coupling light to a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), the method comprising:
- coupling, from a plurality of fibers, light to a plurality of fiber ports of a fiber coupler chip, each of the plurality of fibers and the plurality of fiber ports having congruent sizes that match a fiber mode size of the plurality of fibers;
- propagating the light along optical paths in the fiber coupler chip, the optical paths having widths that decrease in size along the optical paths to reduce the fiber mode size to form a reduced mode size of the light as the light propagates along the optical paths in the fiber coupler chip, and
- coupling the light from a plurality of fiber coupler chip waveguide ports that are on an edge of the fiber coupler chip to a plurality of PIC waveguide ports that are on another edge of the PIC, the light being coupled from the fiber coupler chip to the plurality of PIC waveguide ports in the reduced mode size that is smaller than the fiber mode size.
A fiber coupler chip for coupling light to a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), the fiber coupler chip comprising:
- a plurality of fiber ports to couple light from a plurality of fibers, each of the plurality of fibers and the plurality of fiber ports having congruent sizes that match a fiber mode size of the plurality of fibers;
- optical paths that are coupled to the plurality of fiber ports to propagate the light along the optical paths in the fiber coupler chip, the optical paths having widths that decrease in size along the optical paths to reduce the fiber mode size to form a reduced mode size of the light as the light propagates along the optical paths;
- and
- a plurality of fiber coupler chip waveguide ports on an edge of the fiber coupler chip, the plurality of fiber coupler chip waveguide ports to output the light to a plurality of PIC waveguide ports on another edge of the PIC, the light being coupled from the fiber coupler chip to the plurality of PIC waveguide ports in the reduced mode size.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.