Annapolis Junction, MD, September 9, 2003. Little Optics, Inc., a developer of unique high-index optical waveguide materials for planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) announced the commencement of compact, ultra long path length time delay circuits based on its patented Hydex material system. These circuits are an outflow of Little Optics' Optical ASIC platform.
Long path length time delay circuits are of increasing interest for phased array antennae, optical switching, optical clock distribution, optical time domain multiplexing, polarization mode dispersion compensation, differential phase shift key, optical pulse replication and sensor applications. Little Optics' ability to miniaturize complex PLC circuits to < 1 cm2 leads to dramatic improvements in cost, performance, functionality and size thus making them economically viable to a broader range of applications than previously possible with conventional low-index PLC processes.
Little Optics offers two architectures for time delay circuits: (1) a multi-stage programmable delay line up to 64 bits and (2) an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer with differential path lengths up to 2 meters. These devices are fabricated on Little Optics' patented high index glass platform (i.e., core/clad index contrast ratio up to 25%), resulting in hundreds of die per 6" wafer.
Compared with conventional low index processes, benefits of the Hydex material system are:
1. Increase of optical path length up to 1000x
2. Decrease in chip size by 10-50x
3. Flexible "pick and place" stepper lithography techniques that allow stitching of long path length spirals to common device architecture
4. Increased number of optical circuit elements per die
For more information, visit Little Optics' web site: www.littleoptics.com
Little Optics was founded in July 2000 to design and develop integrated optical devices that dramatically reduce the size and cost of components for photonic communications, semiconductor processing, defense and bio-sensor applications. Through its proprietary VLSI Photonics platform, including a patented glass material system (Hydex), the company is delivering products that have one to two orders of magnitude improvement in size, performance, functionality, and integration density.
Little Optics uses "Pick and Place" lithography techniques and 5x stepper to provide unmatched optical fidelity. As the core/cladding index contrast of the glass can be fabricated up to 25%, the resulting die sizes are dramatically reduced, yielding increases of 10x to 100x in the number of circuits per wafer.
Little Optics offers a library of circuit elements incorporating all devices available on conventional low-index PLC platforms plus unique devices such as: microring resonators, multilayer optical vias, polarization beam splitters, polarization converters/rotators, tunable amplitude and phase filters, and crossbar switches. These elements can be stitched together to build customized circuits. Little Optics furthermore offers mode transformers to match the modal profile of high-index waveguides to conventional single mode fiber.
The flexible Optical ASIC development system facilitates low-cost development and production of custom subsystems on a chip such as: VOA/multiplexers, Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers, Optical Performance Monitors, programmable delay lines for phased array antennas, and chemical/bio-sensors. Little Optics generally develops embedded controls for the Optical ASICs.
Laser Focus World