Patent ID: 7577322

Claim:
An optical integrated circuit with waveguide separation on a substrate ( 3 ), the circuit comprising at least one optical separating unit, the unit comprising an optical input/output interface ( 2 ) at the edge of the substrate intended for being in relation with an external means for guiding a light wave, the interface extending in the circuit through an optical guiding input section of determined length L 1 extended by at least two optical guiding branches ( 7 , 8 ) mutually spaced apart substantially symmetrically relative to the general direction of the input section, characterised in that the input section from the interface at the edge of the substrate includes as many optical guides ( 4 a , 4 b ) as there are branches, each of the optical guides being continuous from the interface at the edge of the substrate up to its corresponding branch inclusive, the optical guides of the input section being substantially rectilinear and mutually parallel, two adjacent optical guides of the input section being separated by an aperture ( 9 ) of determined width D, the refractive index of the opening being lower than that of the optical guides, each optical guide of the input section having a determined width We 1 , and in that each branch optical guide exhibits a width increasing in the direction away from the input section from the width We 1 up to a determined width Ws, the widths We 1 and D being such that the guides are monomode at the working wavelength.