Patent ID: 7444055

Claim:
An integrated-photonics arrangement implementable in III-V semiconductor material system comprising: a semiconductor substrate; the substrate for supporting epitaxial semiconductor growth; an epitaxial semiconductor structure grown on the semiconductor substrate; the epitaxial semiconductor structure grown in one growth step, and comprising a common designated waveguide; the common designated waveguide being at the bottom of the epitaxial semiconductor structure, and for supporting propagation of optical signals within a predetermined first wavelength range; at least one a plurality of the wavelength designated waveguides, each of the plurality of wavelength designated waveguides being above the common designated waveguide, the plurality of wavelength designated waveguides being vertically disposed in order of increasing wavelength bandgap, and each supporting a predetermined second wavelength range, each of the predetermined second wavelength ranges being within the predetermined first wavelength range; at least a portion of one of the plurality of wavelength designated waveguides contains a vertical-lateral splitter; the vertical-lateral splitter comprising a vertical element for coupling an optical signal within the predetermined second wavelength range of the one of the plurality of wavelength designated waveguides from the common designated waveguide to the one of the plurality of wavelength designated waveguides and a lateral element for laterally routing the vertically coupled optical signal, and wherein the common designated waveguide and the vertical element of the one of the plurality of the wavelength designated waveguides are optically aligned and defined along common propagation direction.