Patent ID: 8374469

Claim:
An optical waveguide comprising: a waveguide core; a clad covering the waveguide core, the clad being made of an insulating material; two external regions in the vicinity of the waveguide core; and a bridge structure connecting the two external regions to the waveguide core, wherein the waveguide core is formed of a part of a semiconductor layer, the semiconductor layer comprising at least: a first impurity concentration region that forms the waveguide core; and second impurity concentration regions having higher impurity concentration than the first impurity concentration region, the second impurity concentration regions being disposed on both sides of the first impurity concentration region, wherein the bridge structure is provided by forming multiple holes to the second impurity concentration regions in the semiconductor layer, the multiple holes being arranged respectively into a row along a longitudinal direction of the waveguide on both sides of the first impurity concentration region, wherein first ends of the multiple holes are located at a boundary of the first and second impurity concentration regions, wherein the two external regions enable injecting a current into the waveguide core through the bridge structure, and wherein the waveguide core is optically separated from the two external regions by the multiple holes.