US 11,815,725 B1
Photonic integrated circuit with active alignment
Brandon W. Buckley, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Brian Robert Koch, Brisbane, CA (US); John Garcia, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Jared Bauters, Santa Barbara, CA (US); Sudharsanan Srinivasan, Goleta, CA (US); and Anand Ramaswamy, Pasadena, CA (US)
Assigned to OpenLight Photonics, Inc., Goleta, CA (US)
Filed by OpenLight Photonics, Inc., Goleta, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 17, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/554,425.
Application 17/554,425 is a continuation of application No. 16/918,397, filed on Jul. 1, 2020, granted, now 11,243,362.
Application 16/918,397 is a continuation of application No. 16/354,780, filed on Mar. 15, 2019, granted, now 10,739,539.
Application 16/354,780 is a continuation of application No. 15/864,271, filed on Jan. 8, 2018, granted, now 10,281,663.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G02B 6/42 (2006.01); G02B 6/43 (2006.01); G02B 6/30 (2006.01); G02B 6/12 (2006.01); H04B 10/40 (2013.01); H04B 10/25 (2013.01)
CPC G02B 6/4227 (2013.01) [G02B 6/12 (2013.01); G02B 6/30 (2013.01); G02B 6/43 (2013.01); H04B 10/25891 (2020.05); H04B 10/40 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical transmitter comprising:
a light source, implemented on a chip, to generate light that is transmitted out of the optical transmitter;
a waveguide, implemented on the chip, to receive the light from the light source and transmit the light along a transmission direction of the waveguide, the waveguide further to receive, via an off-chip optical fiber, additional light from an off-chip light source such that the additional light propagates within the waveguide against the transmission direction of the waveguide; and
a light detector, implemented on the chip, to measure the additional light from the waveguide to align the optical fiber with the waveguide based on the additional light that is received by the light detector.