Patent ID: 7532784

Claim:
An integrated-photonics arrangement implementable in a III-V semiconductor material system comprising: a semiconductor substrate for supporting epitaxial semiconductor growth; an epitaxial semiconductor structure grown on the semiconductor substrate in one growth step, the epitaxial semiconductor structure for forming a plurality of vertically stacked optical waveguides integrated onto the substrate; a plurality of vertically stacked optical waveguides formed in the epitaxial semiconductor structure, each vertically stacked optical waveguide laterally defined by at least a semiconductor etching process, and comprising: a common waveguide, the common waveguide being at a predetermined position at an extreme of the plurality of vertically stacked optical waveguides within the epitaxial semiconductor structure, for supporting propagation of optical signals within a predetermined first wavelength range, and characterized by at least a bandgap wavelength, the bandgap wavelength of the common waveguide being shorter than any wavelength within the predetermined first wavelength range, a plurality of wavelength-designated waveguides, each characterized by at least a bandgap wavelength, for at least one of propagating, generating, amplifying, modulating, and detecting optical signals within a plurality of predetermined second wavelength ranges, the predetermined second wavelength ranges being within the predetermined first wavelength range and each being associated with a wavelength-designated waveguide of the plurality of wavelength-designated waveguides, the plurality of wavelength-designated waveguides being formed in the semiconductor epitaxial structure and vertically disposed away from the common waveguide in order of increasing bandgap wavelength thereof, each wavelength-designated waveguide of the plurality of wavelength-designated waveguides being optically aligned with the common waveguide for a predetermined distance, and at least one lateral taper formed within each wavelength-designated waveguide for transferring optical signals between the vertically stacked optical waveguides, the lateral taper defined by at least one semiconductor etching process, wherein when in use, an optical signal in each predetermined second wavelength range is coupled between the common waveguide and corresponding wavelength-designated waveguide without being significantly at least one of altered and affected by any other wavelength-designated waveguide.