Optical component with angled-facet waveguide
A system comprises a first optical component comprising a component body; at least a first waveguide formed in the component body, wherein the first waveguide is substantially mirror-symmetrical in shape relative to a line at or near the center of the first waveguide; and a self-alignment feature configured to assist in optically-coupling the first waveguide with a second waveguide located outside of the component body.
1. A system, comprising,
a first optical component comprising a component body;
at least a first waveguide formed in the component body, wherein the first waveguide comprises an input and an output and is substantially mirror-symmetrical in shape relative to a line at or near the center of the first waveguide, wherein the first waveguide is bent at a given angle of about 10 degrees to about 30 degrees at or near the center of the first waveguide; and
a self-alignment feature configured to assist in optically-coupling the first waveguide with a second waveguide located outside of the component body.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the input and the output are formed at a given input/output angle.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the given angle of bend is two times the input/output angle.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide is bent at a given angle near the input of the first waveguide and near the output of the first waveguide.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the given angle is from about 5 degrees to about 15 degrees.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide is formed as a constant-radius arc from the input to the output of the first waveguide.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the constant-radius arc corresponds to a bend radius from about 1 micrometer to about 1 centimeter.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide is formed in a continuous straight line.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the component body comprises angled-etched features formed at the input and the output of the first waveguide.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first waveguide is formed in a waveguide layer of the component body.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the alignment feature is etched into the waveguide layer.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the component body and the first waveguide are part of a photonic integrated circuit.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the component body and the first waveguide are part of a photonic integrated circuit carrier.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the component body is mounted in a recessed cavity.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the self-aligning feature is a self-aligning lithographic feature.
16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second optical component comprising the second waveguide and at least another self-alignment feature, wherein the self-alignment feature of the first optical component and the self-alignment feature of the second optical component engage to assist in optically-coupling the waveguide of the first optical component and the waveguide of the second optical component when the first optical component has a manufacturing tolerance in a given geometric dimension and is mounted in the second optical component.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the respective self-alignment features provide lateral offset during bonding of the first optical component and the second optical component to compensate for misalignment in optical coupling which occurs as a result of the manufacturing tolerance in the given geometric dimension of the first optical component.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the second optical component comprises a photonic integrated circuit carrier.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein each self-aligning feature is a self-aligning lithographic feature.
20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the first optical component comprises a photonic integrated circuit and the second optical component comprises a photonic integrated circuit carrier.