A scavenging photodetection device (10) is provided. The scavenging photodetection device (10) includes an optical coupling portion (12) and a scavenging photodetection portion (14). The optical coupling portion (12) includes an optical coupler (16) configured to receive light from a light source, a plurality of light absorbers (18) arranged to absorb the light from the light source that is not collected by the optical coupler (16), and at least one primary input waveguide (20) optically coupled to the optical coupler (16) and configured to direct collected light to a photonic integrated circuit. The scavenging photodetection portion (14) includes a primary photodetector (22) configured to collect uncollected light from the optical coupling portion (12) to determine an alignment position of the photonic integrated circuit.