Optical Waveguide Package Recess Layout for Stray Light Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing optical waveguide devices suffer from stray light due to light leaking from the core or entering the cladding from the ambient environment, which lowers the quality of emitted light.
Innovation Solution
The optical waveguide package includes a substrate with a cladding layer and a core, where the cladding layer has a recess with element mount portions for light emitting elements. The core has light incident portions, a merging portion, and a light emission portion, with the first surface of the substrate having an exposed portion lateral to the merging portion to reduce stray light.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the cladding layer is made continuous over the substrate surface, then light confinement in the core is improved, but stray light increases due to light leaking from the core or entering the cladding from the ambient environment
Solution Approach 1:
The cladding layer is segmented by forming a recess that divides the continuous cladding structure into distinct regions. This segmentation allows the cladding to maintain light confinement in the core while creating a controlled pathway for stray light to escape through the recess, thus resolving the contradiction between light confinement and stray light reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
A portion of the cladding layer is extracted to form the recess, removing the harmful stray light pathway while preserving the essential light confinement function in the core region. The recess acts as an extraction zone that selectively removes stray light without compromising the core's light guidance capability.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the cladding layer is removed to reduce stray light, then stray light is reduced, but light confinement and structural integrity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The cladding layer is selectively removed only in the recess region where stray light needs to escape, while the cladding remains intact in other regions to maintain light confinement. This local modification approach allows the structure to have different properties in different locations - light confinement where needed and stray light release where harmful.
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 design effectively reduces stray light by allowing leaking light to be released outside, thereby improving the quality of emitted light and enhancing the overall performance of the optical waveguide package and light source module.
Implementation Method 1
a core in the cladding layer. The core includes a plurality of light incident portions each including an incident end face located at an inner side surface of the recess, a merging portion in which the plurality of light incident portions merge, and a light emission portion located downstream from the merging portion
Data Source
AI summary
An optical waveguide package includes a substrate including a first surface, a cladding layer on the first surface and including a facing surface facing the first surface and an opposite surface opposite to the facing surface including a recess, multiple element mount portions in the recess, and a core in the cladding layer. The core includes multiple light incident portions each including an incident end face located at an inner side surface of the recess, a merging portion in which the multiple light incident portions merge, and a light emission portion located downstream from the merging portion and including an emission end face located at an outer side surface of the cladding layer. The first surface includes an exposed portion at least lateral to the merging portion in a plan view.