Patent ID: 7418161

Claim:
An optical device comprising: a substrate; and a photonic crystal optical interconnect comprising: a first cladding layer over the substrate; a photonic crystal layer over the first cladding layer, the photonic crystal layer comprising at least one photonic crystal element comprising a plurality of pillars being spaced apart from each other; and a second cladding layer over the photonic crystal layer, wherein the pillars do not extend into the second cladding layer, wherein the photonic crystal element comprises a first region having a first photonic crystal structure, a second region having a second different photonic crystal structure, and a third region having a third photonic crystal structure different from that of the first region and the second region, wherein the difference in photonic crystal structure among the three regions is based on a difference in pillar characteristics including at least a difference in pillar shape or size, said photonic crystal element forming a wavelength filter for the interconnect.