Foundry technology and services for si photonics

We discuss the progress in development and offering of silicon photonic integration platforms based on 200mm and 300mm wafer technologies. Devices have capability for developing high-speed datacommunication, but are also used for life science applications

Integrated photonic circuit in silicon on insulator for fourier domain optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a medical imaging technology capable of producing high-resolution, cross-sectional images through inhomogeneous samples, such as biological tissue. It has been widely adopted in clinical ophthalmology and a number of other clinical applications are in active research. Other applications of OCT include material characterization and non-destructive testing. In addition to current uses, OCT has a potential for a much wider range of applications and further commercialization. One of the reasons for slow penetration of OCT in clinical and industrial use is probably the cost and the size of the current systems. Current commercial and research OCT systems are fiber/free space optics based. Although fiber and micro-optical components have made these systems portable, further significant miniaturization and cost reduction could be achieved through the use of integrated photonic components. We demonstrate a Michelson interferometer using integrated photonic waveguides on nanophotonic silicon on insulator platform. The size of the interferometer is 1500 mu m x 50 mu m. The structure has been tested using a mirror as a reflector. We can achieve 40 mu m axial resolution and 25 dB sensitivity which can be substantially improved

Grating couplers with an integrated power splitter for high-intensity optical power distribution

In this letter, we present a fiber grating coupler with an integrated 16-way power splitter. The incoming light from the fiber is split immediately over 16 channels, and therefore, the total optical power is never confined in a single waveguide. This is of particular interest for silicon photonics platforms, because, here, high optical intensities can cause significant non-linear losses. The device has a total coupling efficiency that is similar to standard focusing grating couplers. Furthermore, a channel non-uniformity below 1.1 dB has been obtained. By studying the alignment sensitivity, we found that for high splitting uniformity, a careful positioning of the fiber is necessary. We also experimentally demonstrate that this device is indeed capable of handling high optical powers without introducing additional non-linear losses