DETAILED 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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on August 15th, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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, 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.
Claims 1, 3-11, 13-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. (CN109870767 B) in view of Wang et al. (Xu Wang, Samantha Grist, Jonas Flueckiger, Nicolas A. F. Jaeger, and Lukas Chrostowski, "Silicon photonic slot waveguide Bragg gratings and resonators," Opt. Express 21, 19029-19039 (2013)).
Regarding Claim 1, Dai et al. discloses an optical apparatus comprising:
an input port (1) configured to receive an optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths
a plurality of output ports (6/19/32)
one or more grating filters (a/b/c) arranged between the input port and the plurality of output ports, each grating filter is configured to:
receive one or more wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths at a multimode waveguide
propagate the one or more wavelengths through a first transition section
reflect, using a respective antisymmetric Bragg grating a first mode of a respective wavelength of the one or more wavelengths through the first transition section toward a respective output port of the plurality of output ports (Claims 1-2).
Dai et al. does not expressly disclose that the grating section of each grating filter is a slot waveguide. Wang et al. expressly discloses slot waveguide Bragg gratings, formed on the inside or outside of slot waveguides (paragraph 2.2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify the grating filter of Dai et al. to implement the antisymmetric multimode waveguide Bragg grating section in a slot waveguide as taught by Wang et al., with a corresponding taper transition section connecting the multimode and slot waveguide, as slot waveguide were a known, compatible integrated photonic structure.
Regarding Claim 3, Dai et al. discloses that each grating filter is configured to propagate a second mode of the respective wavelength through the antisymmetric Bragg grating; and propagate any remaining wavelengths of the one or more wavelengths through the antisymmetric Bragg grating (p. 3-4).
Regarding Claim 4, Dai et al. further discloses that each grating filter is further configured to propagate the second mode and the remaining wavelengths through a second transition section extending between the slot waveguide and a second multimode waveguide (p. 4; Claim 2).
Regarding Claim 5, Dai et al. discloses that the first mode of the respective wavelength is a first-order mode and the optical apparatus further comprises one or more mode multiplexers formed in the multimode waveguide, wherein each mode multiplexer is configured to convert the first-order mode to a fundamental mode of the respective wavelength; and propagate the fundamental mode to the respective output port (p. 4-5; Claim 5).
Regarding Claim 6, Dai et al. discloses that the one or more grating filters comprise a plurality of grating filters in a cascading arrangement (Figs. 1-2).
Regarding Claim 7, Dai et al. further discloses that the plurality of antisymmetric Bragg gratings, corresponding to the plurality of grating filters, have non-overlapping passbands (p.4; Claim 4).
Regarding Claim 8, Dai et al. further discloses that the plurality of antisymmetric Bragg gratings, corresponding to the plurality of grating filters, have partially overlapping passbands (p.4; Claim 4).
Regarding Claim 9, Dai et al. further discloses that each passband of the partially overlapping passbands has a center wavelength and an upper roll-off wavelength such that a range of the respective wavelength reflected by the respective antisymmetric Bragg grating is entirely included between the center wavelength and the upper roll-off wavelength (p.4; Claims 3-4).
Regarding Claim 10, Dai et al. discloses an optical apparatus comprising:
a plurality of receivers (1/12/14/25/38/2/9/11/15/22/24/28/35/37)
a demultiplexer comprising:
an input port (1) configured to receive an optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths
a plurality of output ports (6/19/32)
one or more grating filters (a/b/c) arranged between the input port and the plurality of output ports, each grating filter is configured to:
receive one or more wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths at a multimode waveguide
propagate the one or more wavelengths through a first transition section
reflect, using a respective antisymmetric Bragg grating a first mode of a respective wavelength of the one or more wavelengths through the first transition section toward a respective output port of the plurality of output ports (Claims 1-2; p. 3-4).
Dai et al. does not expressly disclose that the grating section of each grating filter is a slot waveguide. Wang et al. expressly discloses slot waveguide Bragg gratings, formed on the inside or outside of slot waveguides (paragraph 2.2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify the grating filter of Dai et al. to implement the antisymmetric multimode waveguide Bragg grating section in a slot waveguide as taught by Wang et al., with a corresponding taper transition section connecting the multimode and slot waveguide, as slot waveguide were a known, compatible integrated photonic structure.
Regarding Claim 11, Dai et al. teaches that the demultiplexer is a coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) demultiplexer (p. 3-4; Claim 2).
Regarding Claim 13, Dai et al. discloses that each grating filter is configured to propagate a second mode of the respective wavelength through the antisymmetric Bragg grating; and propagate any remaining wavelengths of the one or more wavelengths through the antisymmetric Bragg grating (p. 3-4).
Regarding Claim 14, Dai et al. further discloses that each grating filter is further configured to propagate the second mode and the remaining wavelengths through a second transition section extending between the slot waveguide and a second multimode waveguide (p. 4; Claim 2).
Regarding Claim 15, Dai et al. discloses that the first mode of the respective wavelength is a first-order mode and the optical apparatus further comprises one or more mode multiplexers formed in the multimode waveguide, wherein each mode multiplexer is configured to convert the first-order mode to a fundamental mode of the respective wavelength; and propagate the fundamental mode to the respective output port (p. 4-5; Claim 5).
Regarding Claim 16, Dai et al. discloses an optical grating filter comprising:
a first multimode waveguide (3/16/29) configured to receive an optical signal comprising a plurality of wavelengths
a waveguide (9/22/35) having an antisymmetric Bragg grating (10/23/36) and a first transition section between the first multimode waveguide and another waveguide
the first transition section configured to propagate the plurality of wavelengths in a first propagation direction and propagate, in a second direction, a reflected mode of a respective wavelength corresponding to a Bragg wavelength of the antisymmetric Bragg grating (p. 4-5; Claim 2).
Dai et al. does not expressly disclose that the grating section of each grating filter is a slot waveguide. Wang et al. expressly discloses slot waveguide Bragg gratings, formed on the inside or outside of slot waveguides (paragraph 2.2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to modify the grating filter of Dai et al. to implement the antisymmetric multimode waveguide Bragg grating section in a slot waveguide as taught by Wang et al., with a corresponding taper transition section connecting the multimode and slot waveguide, as slot waveguide were a known, compatible integrated photonic structure.
Regarding Claim 18, Dai et al. further discloses a second multimode waveguide (11/24/37), a second transition section between the slot waveguide and the second multimode waveguide, wherein the second multimode waveguide is configured to receive a propagated mode of the respective wavelength and any remaining wavelengths of the plurality of wavelengths (p. 4; Claim 2).
Regarding Claim 19, Dai et al. further discloses a mode multiplexer formed in the multimode waveguide, the mode multiplexer is configured to convert the reflected mode to a fundamental mode of the respective wavelength; and propagate the fundamental mode to an output port (p. 4-5; Claim 2).
Regarding Claim 20, Dai et al. further discloses the reflected mode of the respective wavelength is a first-order mode (p. 4; Claim 5).
Claims 2, 12, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. (CN109870767 B) in view of Wang et al. (Xu Wang, Samantha Grist, Jonas Flueckiger, Nicolas A. F. Jaeger, and Lukas Chrostowski, "Silicon photonic slot waveguide Bragg gratings and resonators," Opt. Express 21, 19029-19039 (2013)), further in view of Ning et al. (Nannan Ning, Hui Yu, Qiang Zhang, Qikai Huang, Zhilei Fu, Penghui Xia, Zhujun Wei, Xiaofei Wang, Yuehai Wang, and Jianyi Yang, "Polarization-insensitive antisymmetric multimode waveguide Bragg grating filter based on an SiN–Si dual-layer stack," Opt. Lett. 48, 65-68 (2023)).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Dai et al. and Wang et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 1, neither reference expressly discloses that the slot waveguide is formed of a silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride material. Ning et al. expressly teaches silicon nitride used as waveguide layer material. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to implement the slot waveguide of the combination of Dai and Wang et al. in silicon nitride or a silicon oxynitride material because these are both well-known compatible materials for integrated photonic Bragg grating filters in the art, as taught by Ning et al. (p. 65-66).
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Dai et al. and Wang et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 1, neither reference expressly discloses that the slot waveguide is formed of a silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride material. Ning et al. expressly teaches silicon nitride used as waveguide layer material. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to implement the slot waveguide of the combination of Dai and Wang et al. in silicon nitride or a silicon oxynitride material because these are both well-known compatible materials for integrated photonic Bragg grating filters in the art, as taught by Ning et al. (p. 65-66).
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Dai et al. and Wang et al. teach all the limitations of Claim 1, neither reference expressly discloses that the slot waveguide is formed of a silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride material. Ning et al. expressly teaches silicon nitride used as waveguide layer material. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to implement the slot waveguide of the combination of Dai and Wang et al. in silicon nitride or a silicon oxynitride material because these are both well-known compatible materials for integrated photonic Bragg grating filters in the art, as taught by Ning et al. (p. 65-66).
Conclusion
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/NASIM KAIRI COOPER/Examiner, Art Unit 2874
/THOMAS A HOLLWEG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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