Fully Integrated, Multiport, Planar-Waveguide, Spectral Comparators And Multiplexers Based On Lithographic Holography

"By combining fabrication methods perfected in the semiconductor industry with device concepts derived from optical holography, LightSmyth Technologies intends to develop a new family of fully integrated, robust, optical devices uniquely suited to highperformance spectral filtering, spectral target recognition, optical multiplexing, temporal correlation of optical waveforms, and the temporal coding and decoding of optical signals as needed for lidar or for code-based communications. The new devicefamily utilizes lithographically scribed holographic structures on planar waveguides. Member devices are expected to simultaneously incorporate robustness, low-cost, and high performance. The present proposal focuses on multiport planar holographicdevices for use in optical multiplexing, in wavelength-division-multiplexed communication systems or for spectral target recognition/sensing where very high speed comparison of target spectra with multiple reference spectra is needed. Other applicationsinclude the simultaneous cross-correlation of received optical signals with a collection of reference waveforms. Multiport planar holographic filters utilize an overlay of multiple independent holographic structures providing a multiplicity of spectraltransfer functions within a single device. Technical objectives include the modeling of important operation parameters including expected insertion loss, polarization dependence, and spectral progr