OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

摘要

In one aspect, the present invention provides techniques and apparatus for optical characterization of photonic devices and/or circuits. By way of example, the techniques can be used to identify damaged devices in photonic integrated circuits. In some embodiments, thermal imaging is employed as a diagnositic tool for characterizing the devices/ciccuits under investigation. For example, in one embodiment, integrated cascaded semiconductor amplifiers can be characterized using amplied spontaneous emission from one amplifier as a thermal modulation input to another amplifier. A thermoreflectance image of the second amplifier can reveal flaws, if present. Further, in some embodiments, thermal imaging in conjunction with a total energy model can be employed to charaterize the elements of photonic circuits optically and/or to map the optical power distribution throughout the circuits.