AN OPTICAL SIGNAL RECEIVER PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (RXPIC), AN ASSOCIATED OPTICAL SIGNAL TRANSMITTER PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (TXPIC) AND AN OPTICAL TRANSPORT NETWORK UTILIZING THESE CIRCUITS

摘要

A photonic integrated circuits (PICs), also referred to as opto-electronic integrated circuits (OEICs), and more particularly to a PIC in the form of a n optical receiver PIC or RxPIC for use in an optical transport networks. Also , an optical transmitter PIC (TxPIC) is also disclosed in conjunction with an RxPIC in an optical transport network. The chip is cast from an InP wafer an d is made from Group III-V elemental materials in the InGaAsP/InP regime with fabrication accomplished through selective metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) or also known as metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Integrated on the chip, starting at the input end which is coupled to receiv e multiplexed optical data signals from an optical transport network is an optical amplifier, an optical demultiplexer, and a plurality of on-chip photodiodes (PDs) each to receive a demultiplexed data signal from the AWG DEMUX for optical-to-electrical signal conversion. The optical input amplifi er may be an on~chip gain clamped semiconductor optical amplifier (GC-SOA) or a n off-chip fiber amplifier. The optical input amplifier may be optional if the channel signal demultiplexer provides for minimal insertion loss which is optimum with a properly designed arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) demultiplex er.