Patent ID: 7181103

Claim:
An optical apparatus, comprising: an optical interconnect structure defining at least one optical source port, at least one optical receiver port, and at least one interconnect optical signal pathway connecting an optical signal source port and a corresponding optical signal receiver port; an optical source arranged for launching an optical signal into the optical interconnect structure through the optical source port; an optical receiver arranged for receiving an optical signal emerging from the optical interconnect structure through the corresponding optical receiver port; and an electrical circuit joined to the optical interconnect structure, the electrical circuit being operatively coupled to the optical source or the optical receiver, wherein: the optical interconnect structure comprises an optical waveguide defining at least a portion of each interconnect optical signal pathway, the optical waveguide substantially confining in at least one transverse dimension optical signals propagating in two dimensions therein; each interconnect optical signal pathway includes at least one signal wavefront diffractive transformation region and a corresponding set of diffractive elements thereof; each diffractive element set is arranged for diffractively transforming a corresponding diffracted portion of a signal incident on the wavefront diffractive transformation region with a corresponding design input signal wavefront into a signal emergent from the diffractive transformation region with a corresponding design output signal wavefront; for at least one diffractive element set, only one of the corresponding design input signal wavefront or the corresponding design output signal wavefront is substantially confined in at least one transverse dimension by the optical waveguide, while another one of the corresponding design input signal wavefront or the corresponding design output signal wavefront propagates without substantial confinement by the optical waveguide; the optical interconnect structure and the electrical circuit comprise layers formed on at least one substrate; and (i) the optical interconnect structure is between the electrical circuit and the substrate, (ii) the electrical circuit is between the optical interconnect structure and the substrate, (iii) the optical source or the optical receiver is integrally formed in the electrical circuit layer, or (iv) the optical interconnect structure comprises at least one layer formed on an interconnect substrate and the electrical circuit comprises at least one layer formed on an electrical circuit substrate.