Uncooled Optical Time Delay Chip Using Microresonator Wavelength Tuning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Optical microresonator devices are temperature sensitive, requiring temperature control for practical applications, which leads to significant power dissipation and increased size and cost due to the use of thermo-electric coolers and temperature sensors in feedback loops.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves monitoring the temperature of the optical time delay chip and modifying the tuning of each microresonator to maintain the required time delay without temperature control, utilizing a wide tuning range of resonant wavelengths and heaters to adjust resonance frequencies, and using a feedback loop to align resonances with the operating wavelength, allowing for uncooled operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If temperature control is implemented using TEC and feedback loops, then the operating wavelength stability is improved, but power dissipation increases and device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the temperature control subsystem (TEC and feedback loops) from the device architecture. By recognizing that the microresonator's temperature sensitivity can be compensated through optical wavelength tuning rather than physical temperature control, the harmful temperature control components are removed, thereby reducing power dissipation and device size while maintaining operational stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/thermal control system (TEC) with an optical control mechanism. Instead of physically cooling or heating the microresonator to maintain wavelength stability, the system uses optical wavelength tuning through the microresonator's inherent resonance properties, substituting a thermal-mechanical approach with an optical approach that consumes less power and requires fewer components.
2Temperature
If temperature control is implemented using TEC and feedback loops, then the operating wavelength stability is improved, but device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the temperature control subsystem (TEC, temperature sensors, and feedback circuitry) from the device architecture. By eliminating these components and relying instead on the microresonator's optical resonance characteristics for wavelength stability, the overall device volume is reduced while maintaining the required operating wavelength stability.
3Temperature
If temperature control is implemented using TEC and feedback loops, then the operating wavelength stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the complex temperature control subsystem including TEC, temperature sensors, and feedback loops. By relying on the microresonator's inherent optical resonance properties and simple wavelength tuning mechanisms, the device complexity is significantly reduced while maintaining operating wavelength stability through optical rather than thermal control.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces power dissipation and eliminates the need for temperature control, enabling the optical time delay device to operate effectively over a wide temperature range while maintaining low distortion and wide bandwidth, supporting uncooled operation and reducing device size and cost.
Implementation Method 1
When the temperature is increased or decreased, the effective index of the optical waveguide making up the microresonator changes, therefore changing the effective length of the microresonator, which then changes the wavelengths of the microresonator resonances
Implementation Method 2
the coupled optical microresonator 100 has a bandwidth of 0.05 nm, a Free-Spectral-Range (FSR) of 1 nm, and an operating wavelength close to 1550 nm. An example optical loss spectrum for such a microresonator is shown in FIG. 2 for a specific ambient temperature, e.g. room temperature—the resonances occur over a wide wavelength range
Data Source
AI summary
This invention removes the need to provide temperature control for an optical time delay chip, which is usually provided by a thermo-electric-cooler, in order to significantly reduce the power dissipation of the device and allow ‘uncooled’ operation. Uncooled operation is achieved by monitoring the temperature of the chip, and changing the tuning of each microresonator within the device in order to continue providing the required time delay as the temperature is varied. This invention takes advantage of the fact that microresonators provide a series of resonant wavelengths over a wide wavelength range, so that the closest resonance wavelength below the operating wavelength can always be tuned up to that wavelength. When the device temperature changes, this is accounted for by both the choice of resonance wavelengths and the tuning for each of the microresonators in the device, in order to keep the correct tunable delay.