Charge-based memory cell for optical resonator tuning
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsSagi Mathai, Alexandre Bratkovski, Duncan Stewart
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Abstract
An optical resonator configured to be tuned using a charge-based memory cell includes an optical cavity configured to transmit light and receive injected charge carriers; a charge-based memory cell in proximity to or within the optical cavity, the memory cell containing a number of trapped charges which influence the resonant optical frequency of the optical resonator. A method of tuning an optical resonator includes applying a voltage or current to a charge-based memory cell to generate a non-volatile charge within the memory cell, the nonvolatile charge changing a resonant frequency of the optical resonator.
Claims21
An optical resonator configured to be tuned using a charge-based memory cell, comprising:
- an optical cavity, said optical cavity being configured to transmit light and receive injected charge carriers, in which said optical cavity has a resonant frequency which differs from a target frequency due to at least one of:
- geometric manufacturing variation, material variation, thermal heating, and mechanical stress;
- and
- a charge-based memory cell in proximity to said optical cavity, said charge-based memory cell comprising trapped charges to alter said resonant frequency of said optical cavity to substantially match said target frequency, in which said charged based memory cell surrounds said optical cavity on at least two adjoining sides.
A ring resonator configured to be tuned using a charge-based memory cell, comprising:
- an optical cavity, said optical cavity comprising an annular ridge waveguide, said annular ridge waveguide being configured to transmit light and receive injected charge carriers, said optical cavity being optically coupled to a second waveguide;
- a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein placing a voltage across said first electrode and said second electrode injects charge carriers into said annular ridge waveguide;
- a charge-based memory cell in proximity to one or more surfaces of said annular ridge waveguide, wherein a tunnel oxide layer in said charge-based memory cell is separated from said annular ridge waveguide by interposing a silicon dioxide dielectric layer between said memory cell and said annular ridge waveguide, wherein said charge-based memory cell contains a number of trapped charges, said trapped charges influencing said charge carriers within said annular ridge waveguide such that the optical frequency of said optical cavity is tuned from a first resonant frequency to a second resonant frequency;
- said second resonant frequency substantially matching a frequency of optical energy passing through said second waveguide.
A method of utilizing a charge-based memory cell to tune an optical resonator comprising:
- applying a voltage or current to said charge-based memory cell in proximity to said optical resonator to generate a non-volatile charge within a region of the charge-based memory cell, said non-volatile charge changing a resonant frequency of said optical resonator an optical cavity to substantially match a target frequency, said optical cavity being configured to transmit light and receive injected charge carriers, in which said resonant frequency which differs from said target frequency due to at least one of:
- geometric manufacturing variation, material variation, thermal heating, and mechanical stress, in which said charged based memory cell surrounds said optical resonator on at least two adjoining sides.
An optical resonator comprising:
- an optical cavity with a resonant frequency which differs from a predetermined frequency due to at least one of:
- geometric manufacturing variation, material variation, thermal heating, and mechanical stress;
- and
- a charge-based memory cell adjacent to the optical cavity, the charge-based memory cell comprising trapped charges to alter the resonant frequency of the optical cavity to substantially match the predetermined frequency;
- and
- a first electrode and a second electrode, in which said first electrode and said second electrode are each in direct contact with both a tunnel oxide layer in the charge-based memory cell and said optical cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.