Patent ID: 7599584

Claim:
A planar mid-infrared (mid-IR) integrated microphotonic platform comprising: at least one laser for performing lasing functions, said at least one laser comprises chalcogenide glass; at least amplifier structure being coupled to said at least one laser for performing optical amplification, said at least amplifier structure comprises chalcogenide glass; at least one waveguide structure being coupled to said at least one amplifier structure for guiding an optical signal in said microphotonic platform, said at least waveguide structure comprises chalcogenide glass; at least one modulator structure being coupled to said at least one waveguide structure for modulating said optical signal, said at least modulator structure comprises chalcogenide glass; and at least one photodetector being coupled to said at least one modulator structure for performing photodetecting functions of said microphotonic platform; said at least photodetector comprises chalcogenide glass; and at least one optical sensor being coupled to said at least one photodetector for performing optical sensing functions of said microphotonic platform, said at least optical sensor comprises chalcogenide glass; wherein the chalcogenide glass is morphologically modified at its glass transition temperature to remove surface roughness on the various components of said planar mid-IR integrated platform and said microphotonic platform comprising a Si-CMOS-compatible platform.