Patent ID: 7224174

Claim:
An apparatus disposed on an integrated substrate comprising: first and second grating couplers and an optical waveguide coupled between the first and second grating couplers, where a light beam directed to the first grating coupler propagates through the optical waveguide and exits from the second grating coupler, wherein the first grating coupler and the optical waveguide are disposed on a same side of the integrated substrate, wherein a source of the light beam is outside the integrated substrate and not physically coupled to the integrated substrate; an optical probe positioned above the integrated substrate, where the optical probe comprises a plurality of optical waveguides, a first light beam is coupled down from a first one of the plurality of optical waveguides of the optical probe to the first grating coupler, the first light beam propagates from the first grating coupler through the optical waveguide on the substrate to the second grating coupler, and the first light beam is coupled up from the second grating coupler to a second one of the plurality of optical waveguides of the optical probe, wherein the first and second grating couplers and the optical waveguide coupled between the first and second grating couplers comprises an optical alignment loop; a plurality of optical structures disposed on the integrated substrate; a second light beam coupled between a third one of the plurality of optical waveguides in the optical probe and a first one of the plurality of optical structures on the integrated substrate, where the first optical structure is substantially adjacent to the optical alignment loop.