Cantilever beam waveguide for silicon photonics device

    公开(公告)号:US11320718B1

    公开(公告)日:2022-05-03

    申请号:US16998816

    申请日:2020-08-20

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: A cantilever beam waveguide for a silicon photonics device may be formed in a device layer (e.g., a silicon device layer) of a silicon photonics device (e.g., a chip) and may be configured to bend to align the cantilever beam waveguide or a portion thereof with one or more additional components of the silicon photonics device or another device, including output couplers, optical sources, and waveguides.

    Achromatic Light Splitting Device with a High V Number and a Low V Number Waveguide

    公开(公告)号:US20220099889A1

    公开(公告)日:2022-03-31

    申请号:US17479943

    申请日:2021-09-20

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: Configurations for an optical splitter are disclosed. The optical splitter may include an input waveguide, a free propagation region, and an array of output waveguides. The input waveguide may be sufficiently narrow that the light in the free propagation region may diffract and provide the same optical intensity at far field angles across a wide wavelength range. The input waveguide may have a high V number in a vertical dimension and a low V number in a horizontal dimension. Because all of the wavelengths of light diffract at the same angle in the free propagation region, once the light reaches the output waveguides, the light may have similar optical power at each of the output waveguides. Additionally, the output waveguides may vary in width and spacing to mitigate the non-uniform optical power distribution of the phase front of light.

    Optical inspection system and method including accounting for variations of optical path length within a sample

    公开(公告)号:US11035793B2

    公开(公告)日:2021-06-15

    申请号:US16296010

    申请日:2019-03-07

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: An illuminator/collector assembly can deliver incident light to a sample and collect return light returning from the sample. A sensor can measure ray intensities as a function of ray position and ray angle for the collected return light. A ray selector can select a first subset of rays from the collected return light at the sensor that meet a first selection criterion. In some examples, the ray selector can aggregate ray intensities into bins, each bin corresponding to rays in the collected return light that traverse within the sample an estimated optical path length within a respective range of optical path lengths. A characterizer can determine a physical property of the sample, such as absorptivity, based on the ray intensities, ray positions, and ray angles for the first subset of rays. Accounting for variations in optical path length traversed within the sample can improve accuracy.

    Reference Switch Architectures for Noncontact Sensing of Substances

    公开(公告)号:US20210018432A1

    公开(公告)日:2021-01-21

    申请号:US17063483

    申请日:2020-10-05

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: This relates to systems and methods for measuring a concentration and type of substance in a sample at a sampling interface. The systems can include a light source, optics, one or more modulators, a reference, a detector, and a controller. The systems and methods disclosed can be capable of accounting for drift originating from the light source, one or more optics, and the detector by sharing one or more components between different measurement light paths. Additionally, the systems can be capable of differentiating between different types of drift and eliminating erroneous measurements due to stray light with the placement of one or more modulators between the light source and the sample or reference. Furthermore, the systems can be capable of detecting the substance along various locations and depths within the sample by mapping a detector pixel and a microoptics to the location and depth in the sample.

    Optical system for reference switching

    公开(公告)号:US10788366B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-09-29

    申请号:US16095311

    申请日:2017-04-13

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining one or more properties of a sample are disclosed. The systems and methods disclosed can be capable of measuring along multiple locations and can reimage and resolve multiple optical paths within the sample. The system can be configured with one-layer or two-layers of optics suitable for a compact system. The optics can be simplified to reduce the number and complexity of the coated optical surfaces, etalon effects, manufacturing tolerance stack-up problems, and interference-based spectroscopic errors. The size, number, and placement of the optics can enable multiple simultaneous or non-simultanous measurements at various locations across and within the sample. Moreover, the systems can be configured with an optical spacer window located between the sample and the optics, and methods to account for changes in optical paths due to inclusion of the optical spacer window are disclosed.

    Laser Architectures Using Quantum Well Intermixing Techniques

    公开(公告)号:US20200244045A1

    公开(公告)日:2020-07-30

    申请号:US16649965

    申请日:2018-09-25

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: A laser chip including a plurality of stripes is disclosed, where a laser stripe can be grown with an initial optical gain profile, and its optical gain profile can be shifted by using an intermixing process. In this manner, multiple laser stripes can be formed on the same laser chip from the same epitaxial wafer, where at least one laser stripe can have an optical gain profile shifted relative to another laser stripe. For example, each laser stripe can have a shifted optical gain profile relative to its neighboring laser stripe, thereby each laser stripe can emit light with a different range of wavelengths. The laser chip can emit light across a wide range of wavelengths. Examples of the disclosure further includes different regions of a given laser stripe having different intermixing amounts.

    Confocal inspection system having averaged illumination and averaged collection paths

    公开(公告)号:US10718931B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-07-21

    申请号:US15529451

    申请日:2015-12-22

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: A confocal inspection system can optically characterize a sample. An objective lens, or separate incident and return lenses, can deliver incident light from a light source to the sample, and can collect light from the sample. Confocal optics can direct the collected light onto a detector. The system can average the incident light over multiple locations at the sample, for example, by scanning the incident light with a pivotable mirror in the incident and return optical paths, or by illuminating and collecting with multiple spaced-apart confocal apertures. The system can average the collected light, for example, by directing the collected light onto a single-pixel detector, or by directing the collected light onto a multi-pixel detector and averaging the pixel output signals to form a single electronic signal. Averaging the incident and/or return light can be advantageous for structured or inhomogeneous samples.

    Independent Control of Emission Wavelength and Output Power of a Semiconductor Laser

    公开(公告)号:US20200153202A1

    公开(公告)日:2020-05-14

    申请号:US16740331

    申请日:2020-01-10

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: Methods for driving a tunable laser with integrated tuning elements are disclosed. The methods can include modulating the tuning current and laser injection current such that the laser emission wavelength and output power are independently controllable. In some examples, the tuning current and laser injection current are modulated simultaneously and a wider tuning range can result. In some examples, one or both of these currents is sinusoidally modulated. In some examples, a constant output power can be achieved while tuning the emission wavelength. In some examples, the output power and tuning can follow a linear relationship. In some examples, injection current and tuning element drive waveforms necessary to achieve targeted output power and tuning waveforms can be achieved through optimization based on goodness of fit values between the targeted and actual output power and tuning waveforms.

    Confocal inspection system having non-overlapping annular illumination and collection regions

    公开(公告)号:US10551605B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-02-04

    申请号:US15717573

    申请日:2017-09-27

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: A confocal inspection system can optically characterize a sample. An objective lens, which can be a single lens or a combination of separate illumination and collection lenses, can have a pupil. The objective lens can deliver incident light to the sample through an annular illumination region of the pupil, and can collect scattered light returning from the sample to form collected light. Confocal optics can be positioned to receive the collected light. A detector can be configured with the confocal optics so that the detector generates signals from light received from a specified depth at or below a surface of the sample and rejects signals from light received from depths away from the specified depth. An optical element, such as a mask, a reconfigurable panel, or the detector, can define the annular collection region to be non-overlapping with the annular illumination region in the pupil.

Patent Agency Ranking