Addressable, semiconductor adaptable Bragg gratings

摘要

A Bragg grating device (10) is provided including a semiconductive optical waveguide (12) with a Bragg grating structure (14) formed along its length. A first plurality of electrodes (16) are disposed on a first surface (18) of the optical waveguide (12) and individually communicate with select members of the Bragg grating structure (14). A second plurality of electrodes (20) are disposed on a second surface (22) of the optical waveguide (12) and individually communicate with select members of the Bragg grating structure (14) such that individual electrodes of the second plurality of electrodes (20) are electrically coupled to individual electrodes of the first plurality of electrodes (16) via the Bragg grating structure (14). As such, a plurality of addressable portions (30) of the Bragg grating device (6) are defined. A plurality of electrical leads (32) are electrically coupled between individual electrodes of the second plurality of electrodes (20) and a power source (38) such that a refractive index of each portion (30) along the Bragg grating structure (14) may be selectively varied along the length of the optical waveguide (12). As a further feature of the present invention, a controller (36) is disposed between the plurality of electrical leads (32) and the power source (38) for varying a magnitude and distribution of current among the individual portions (30) of the Bragg grating structure (14) to effectuate different optical applications.