Detailed Office Action
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Election/Restriction
On 2 March 2026, applicant elected claims 1-11 without traverse.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-11
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taheri, et al., Soliton Formation in Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonators via Input Phase Modulation, in IEEE Photonics Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1-9, April 2015, Art no. 2200309, in view of Xu et al., Hybrid external-cavity lasers (ECL) using photonic e bonds as coupling elements. Sci Rep. 2021 Aug 12;11(1):16426, as evidenced by Hale et al. Single-mode tapered optical fiber immunosensor I:characterization with model analytes, Proc. SPIE2131, Biomedical Fiber Optic Instrumentation, null(28Jul1994) and Janz, et al, Silicon photonic wire evanescent field sensors: sensor arrays and instrumentation, Proc.SPIE7888, Frontiers in Biological Detection: From Nanosensors to Systems III,788805(8Feb2011), and further in view of Anderson et al., Highly efficient coupling of crystalline microresonators to integrated photonic waveguides, Opt. Lett. 43, 2106-2109 (2018), as evidenced by Kavungal et al., Study of whispering gallery modes in a cylindrical microresonator excited by a tilted fiber taper, 23rd International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors,Proc. of SPIE Vol. 9157, 91578N, 2014
Regarding claims 1-11, Takeri discloses in figure 1 and related figures and text, discloses soliton formation as induced by a waveguide evanescently coupling to a WGM resonator.
Taheri, figure 1, and related figures and text
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We propose a systematic method for soliton formation in whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators through input phase modulation. Our numerical simulations of a variant of the Lugiato-Lefever equation suggest that modulating the input phase at a frequency equal to the resonator free-spectral-range and at modest modulation depths provides a deterministic route to-wards soliton formation in WGM resonators without undergoing a chaotic phase. We show that the generated solitonic state is sustained when the modulation is turned off adiabatically. Our results support parametric seeding as a powerful means of control, besides input pump power and pump-resonance detuning, over frequency comb generation in WGM resonators. Our findings also help pave the path towards ultra-short pulse formation on a chip.
Figure 1 shows the schematic of the structure under study, where an access waveguide is coupled to a WGM resonator. We consider exciting the resonator with a CW laser pump with an amplitude proportional to and with a frequency in the vicinity of a cavity resonance denoted by. The resonance frequencies of the resonator, assumed to be the different azimuthal orders of the same radial or-der mode, are centered with respect to this pumped resonance, i.e., each resonance frequency is written as while its mode number is written as, where is the mode number of the pumped resonance and s an integer,{0, ±1, ±2,··· }. In this notation,= 0 and= 0 correspond to the pumped (or central) resonance frequency. The phase of the input laser is modulated, either off-chip or on-chip, at a frequency and with a modulation depth before coupling into the resonator. The modulation leads to the generation of equidistant sidebands …
WGM resonators in a deterministic way through input phase modulation. Using a variant of the LLE, we showed, both numerically and analytically, that parametric seeding by pump phase modulation allows us to manipulate pulses in a WGM resonator and leads to more stable solitons. We also showed that the seeding agent can be removed without affecting the generated solitons. Our findings support parametric seeding as a powerful means of control over frequency comb generation in WGM resonators and help pave the path towards chip-scale ultra-short pulse sources
Further regarding claims 1-11, while Taheri does not explicitly disclose writing a wirebond, Xu discloses , figures 1 and 4, and related text and figures, using 3D printing to integrated wirebond couplers into photonic devices.
Xu, figures 1 and 4, and related text and figures
Combining semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA) on direct-bandgap III–V substrates with low-loss silicon or silicon-nitride photonic integrated circuits (PIC) has been key to chip-scale external-cavity lasers (ECL) that offer wideband tunability along with small optical linewidths. However, fabrication of such devices still relies on technologically demanding monolithic integration of heterogeneous material systems or requires costly high-precision package-level assembly, often based on active alignment, to achieve low-loss coupling between the SOA and the external feedback circuits. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel class of hybrid ECL that overcome these limitations by exploiting 3D-printed photonic wire bonds as intra-cavity coupling elements. Photonic wire bonds can be written in-situ in a fully automated process with shapes adapted to the mode-field sizes and the positions of the chips at both ends, thereby providing low-loss coupling even in presence of limited placement accuracy. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we use an InP-based reflective SOA (RSOA) along with a silicon photonic external feedback circuit and demonstrate a single-mode tuning range from 1515 to 1565 nm along with side mode suppression ratios above 40 dB and intrinsic linewidths down to 105 kHz. Our approach combines the scalability advantages of monolithic integration with the performance and flexibility of hybrid multi-chip assemblies and may thus open a path towards integrated ECL on a wide variety of integration platforms.
The examiner notes that Hale evinces in figure 1, and related figures and text, and Janz evinces in figure 3 , and related figures and text, t that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that 3D printed optical waveguiding structures (including photonic wires) would facilitate evanescent couplers/probes.
Hale, figure 1, and related figures and text.
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Abstract: A novel single mode tapered optical fibre loop biochemical sensor based on fluorescence spectroscopy has been developed. The fundamental fibre mode propagates through the tapered portion of an optical fibre and generates an evanescent field which penetrates into the… environment surrounding the fibre .
Finally, Anderson discloses in figure 2, and related figures and text, coupling photonic integrated waveguides as a chip for coupling to crystalline resonators.
Anderson, figure 2, and related figures and text.
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Crystalline optical whispering gallery mode resonators made from alkaline earth fluorides can achieve exceptionally large optical finesse, and are used in a variety of applications, from frequency stabilization and narrow linewidth lasers, to lownoise microwave generation or soliton Kerr frequency combs. Here we demonstrate an efficient coupling method to resonators of these materials, which employs photonic integrated waveguides on a chip based on silicon nitride. By converting a mode from silicon nitride to a free-hanging silica waveguide on a silicon chip, coupling to a crystalline resonator is achieved with a high extinction, while preserving a quality factor exceeding 200 million. This compact, heterogeneous integration of ultra-high Q-factor crystalline resonators with photonic waveguides provides a proof of concept for wafer scale integration and robust, compact packaging for a wide range of applications.
Once coupled on to the chip, the light is highly confined inside a single-mode Si3N4 waveguide, before transitioning to a pure SiO2 beam section where light is able to evanescently couple to a microresonator, and then re-entering the Si3N4 waveguide. The Si3N4 adiabatically tapers down in width at the ends of the beam in order to smoothly reduce the effective propagation constant and increase the mode-field area in order to overlap with the modes of the beam, as well as reduce reflection at the interfaces.
The microresonator is positioned over the waveguide with a five-axis stage, having a precision of ∼100 nm in the X , Y , and Z directions. A function generator is used to apply a linear ramp to the laser’s internal piezo-electric transducer. The sweep rate is set to avoid cavity ringdown, and the laser power in the waveguide is kept low to avoid nonlinearities. An electro-optic modulator is used to apply calibration sidebands that are important for converting a laser sweep to the frequency domain. After aligning the resonator optimally with respect to the waveguide, the resonator is lowered closer to the waveguide in steps of ∼100 nm while the laser is scanned, and at each point the resonance dip is recorded.
Consequently, in light of the disclosures of Taheri, in view of Xu, as evidenced by Hale and Janz, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Anderson Anderson’s design and fabrication methods, to comprise:
1. A method comprising: writing a photonic wirebond to at least one optical waveguide to position the photonic wirebond at a first coupling position relative to a crystalline microresonator; injecting optical power into the at least one optical waveguide; determining a number of generated light modes within the crystalline microresonator; and performing a peak search to locate at least one soliton step corresponding to at least one of the generated light modes within the crystalline microresonator.
2. The method of claim 1, comprising: rewriting the photonic wirebond at one or more second coupling positions relative to the crystalline microresonator; wherein determining the number of generated light modes includes determining the number of generated light modes within the crystalline microresonator corresponding to each of the first coupling position and the one or more second coupling positions.
3. The method of claim 2, comprising: selecting a coupling position of the photonic wirebond from among the first coupling position and the one or more second coupling positions in which the number of generated light modes is highest; wherein performing the peak search includes performing the peak search with the photonic wirebond positioned at the selected coupling position.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein rewriting the photonic wirebond comprises removing the photonic wirebond from a current coupling position and sequentially writing a new photonic wirebond at the one or more second coupling positions.
5. The method of claim 1, comprising: acquiring coupling dependence information characterizing a dependence of evanescent coupling between the photonic wirebond and the crystalline microresonator on spatial positioning of the photonic wirebond relative to the crystalline microresonator; and wherein writing the photonic wirebond comprising determining the first coupling position based on the coupling dependence information.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing the photonic wirebond comprises performing a three-dimensional printing process.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein writing the photonic wirebond comprises forming the photonic wirebond of a negative-tone photoresist material.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein writing the photonic wirebond comprises forming the photonic wirebond having a loopback structure including first and second end regions coupled to the at least one optical waveguide and a loopback portion extending between the first and second end regions.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein writing the photonic wirebond comprises forming the loopback portion with an elliptical profile.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein writing the photonic wirebond comprises forming the first and second end regions as tapered regions each having a circular profile; and wherein a diameter of the circular profile matches a minor diameter of the elliptical profile of the loopback portion.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the crystalline microresonator includes an annular protrusion, and wherein writing the photonic wirebond at the first coupling position comprises writing the photonic wirebond to contact the annular protrusion of the crystalline microresonator.
because the resulting design, fabrication, and deployment methods would enhance ‘searching for solitons.’Kavungal, figure 1 and related figures and text.
Kavungal, figure 1 and related figures and text
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER RADKOWSKI whose telephone number is (571)270-1613. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9-5.
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/PETER RADKOWSKI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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