Chip-scale photonics platform with integrated wavelength-tunable laser

Integrated photovoltaic cells allow incident light on the chip to be converted into usable electrical power.

This technology is an optically-powered complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chip designed for minimally-invasive electrophysiological measurements and intracellular monitoring of biological systems.

This technology is an injectable IC chip that can be powered wirelessly by visible light and is less than ten microns in each dimension.

The use of dithering signals to achieve wavelength locking obviates the requirement for bulky tunable lasers or monochromators, thereby creating an energy-efficient and scalable solution for future device applications.

Unmet Need: Method of locking microring resonator wavelength to laser wavelength.

In order for silicon microring resonators to work properly in optical interconnects and related device applications, their resonance must maintain alignment with a specific laser wavelength.

This technology proposes a method to construct optical isolators, which preferentially transmit light in one direction, and optical circulators, which direct light through only one of a number of ports, using nanostructures that enable light to flow in one direction more readily than in the opposite direction.

Metasurface for controlling guided light waves: CMOS compatible and less bulky than conventional devices.

Smaller footprint than conventional isolators and circulators that use magnetic effects to direct lasers.