TEMPERATURE STABLE INTEGRATED OPTICAL DEVICE

摘要

The application describes a temperature stable integrated optical device which is substantially insensitive to temperature variations. The device, such as an interferometer, includes sub-sections (12a, 12b) of a different light transmissive material within the optical pathways (10a, 10b). The relative lengths of the two different material waveguides can be selected so as to achieve temperature insensitivity. A suitable balance is to ensure that the ratio of the difference in sub-path lengths of the first and second pathways is equal to the ratio of the respective refractive index gradient with temperature of the materials used. Suitable materials are silicon and silicon nitride.