Granted Patent B2

US 12,704,674 · App. 18/393,142 · Granted Aug 11, 2026

Inventors: Kaikai Liu (Santa Barbara, CA); Jiawei Wang (Malden, MA); Andrei Isichenko (Goleta, CA); Nitesh Chauhan (Sunnyvale, CA); Daniel J. Blumenthal (Santa Barbara, CA)

Assignee: The Regents of the University of California

G02B6/12G01J9/02G01J2009/023G01J2009/0288G02F2203/15

Abstract

Claims (29)

1 . A photonic integrated circuit forming part of a Mach Zehnder interferometer, the photonic integrated circuit comprising:

a first waveguide with an optical input at a first port and comprising a waveguide delay arm;

a second waveguide;

a first coupler that optically couples the first waveguide to the second waveguide at a first position;

a waveguide coil resonator; and

a second coupler that optically couples the first waveguide to the second waveguide at a second position, the second position different from the first position.

2 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein light received to the first port sequentially passes first through the first coupler, second through the waveguide delay arm, and third through the second coupler.

3 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the waveguide delay arm is 2 meters long.

4 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the waveguide delay arm is positioned between the first coupler and the second coupler along a beamline.

5 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein a first output port of the first waveguide and a second output port of the second waveguide is connected to a photodetector such that an optical signal can be used for optical frequency discrimination.

6 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein a first output port of the first waveguide and a second output port of the second waveguide is connected to a detector such that an optical signal can be used to generate a control input for a laser.

7 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first coupler has a gap of 2 μm and a length of 1.4 mm.

8 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein a first output port of the first waveguide and a second output port of the second waveguide are used for laser stabilization.

9 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a laser, wherein a laser optical wavelength is selected from a list consisting of Deep UV, UV, near UV, Visible, Near IR, Mid IR and IR wavelengths.

10 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit is formed of a material, the material selected from a list consisting of silicon nitride, tantalum pentoxide, aluminum nitride, and alumina oxide.

11 . A photonic integrated circuit forming part of a Mach Zehnder interferometer, the photonic integrated circuit comprising:

a resonator, wherein the resonator is a coil resonator;

a first waveguide comprising an optical input at a first port and a delay arm;

a second waveguide, the second waveguide coupled to the resonator at a first position;

a first coupler that optically couples the first waveguide to the second waveguide at a second position; and

a second coupler that optically couples the first waveguide to the second waveguide at a third position,

wherein the waveguide delay arm is positioned between the first coupler and the second coupler.

12 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , wherein optical properties of the delay arm can be configured by a tuning effect, the tuning effect selected from a list consisting of electro-optic tuning effect, stress-optic tuning effect, current-injection tuning effect, and thermo-optic tuning effect.

13 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , further comprising an output port, wherein an output from the output port is connected to a photodetector such that an optical signal can be used for optical frequency discrimination.

14 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , further comprising an output port, wherein an output from the output port is connected to a detector such that an optical signal can be used to generate a control input for a feedback loop to lock a laser.

15 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , wherein the first coupler has a gap of 1 μm and a length of 1.4 mm.

16 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , wherein a first output port of the first waveguide and a second output port of the second waveguide are used for laser stabilization.

17 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , further comprising a laser, wherein a laser optical wavelength is selected from a list consisting of Deep UV, UV, near UV, Visible, Near IR, Mid IR and IR wavelengths.

18 . The photonic integrated circuit of claim 11 , wherein the photonic integrated circuit is formed of a material, the material selected from a list consisting of silicon nitride, tantalum pentoxide, aluminum nitride, and alumina oxide.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (400)