DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 10,895,764 to Sharma et al.
Regarding claim 1, Sharma teaches an integrated electro-optical modulator (Fig. 2B) comprising: a cladding (50); a waveguide core (12’) arranged at least partly in the cladding and configured to guide light along an extension direction (length direction of the core 12’, which is orthogonal to both “W” and “H” in Fig. 2B) of the waveguide core (12’); and a first electrode (14) and a second electrode (16) arranged on opposite (left/right) sides of the waveguide core (12’) and each formed of a two-dimensional (length and width directions) material on a surface of the cladding (50); wherein each of the first electrode (14) and the second electrode (16) extends into the waveguide core (creating overlaps 76’a, 76’b such that its bottom portion has a reduced width W compared to remaining core width W1); and wherein the first electrode (14) and the second electrode (16) are configured to apply an electric field (E) across a modulation region (region between the two electrodes) of the waveguide core (12’), and thereby to convert at least a part of the energy of the light in the modulation region between two orthogonal modes, wherein one of the two orthogonal modes is polarized perpendicular to the plane of the 2D material (since the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure, a prima facie case of anticipation has been established and the prior art product is presumed to be able to perform the same function. In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977).
Claim(s) 1-6, 8, 9, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Girouard et al. cited in IDS.
Regarding claim 1, Girouard teaches an integrated electro-optical absorption modulator (Fig. 1) comprising: a cladding (Fig. 1 and Part II);
a waveguide core arranged at least partly in the cladding and configured to guide light along an extension direction of the waveguide core (Figs. 1a and 1b and Part II); and a first electrode and a second electrode arranged on opposite sides of the waveguide core and each formed of a two-dimensional, 2D, material on a surface of the cladding or in the cladding (Fig. 1 and Part II);
wherein each of the first electrode and the second electrode extends into the waveguide core (Fig. 1a); and
wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to apply an electric field across a modulation region of the waveguide core (Fig. 1 and Parts I and II), and thereby to convert at least a part of the energy of the light in the modulation region between two orthogonal modes (See in GIROUARD the use of X(2), and the Parts I and II), wherein one of the two orthogonal modes is polarized perpendicular to the plane of the 2D material (In GIROUARD Parts I and II: TE and TM modes).
Regarding claim 2, Girouard further teaches one of the two orthogonal modes is a transverse magnetic, TM, mode polarized perpendicular to a plane of the2 D material, and the other one of the two orthogonal modes is a transverse electric, TE, mode polarized in the plane of the2 D material (In GIROUARD parts I and II: TE and TM modes and part V; and in the '790 publication page 5 lines 1-10 and throughout the description called horizontal and vertical components).
Regarding claim 3, Girouard further teaches the waveguide core comprises a first material having a non-zero off-diagonal electro-optic tensor coefficient, wherein at least a part of the first material is arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode (tensor in GIROUARD part II: "The waveguides are oriented along the [110] direction in order to use the large off-diagonal r51 electro-optic tensor element of all domains" and in part V: "Coupling between the TE- and TM-like modes is possible due to the large off-diagonal electro-optic tensor element r51 for BaTiO3 [37].").
Regarding claim 4, Girouard further teaches the waveguide core further comprises a second material, the second material having a similar or an identical refractive index than the first material (see in GIROUARD Fig.2a: core: BaTiO3 and SI3N4 and part II).
Regarding claim 5, Girouard further teaches the waveguide core comprise a lower part arranged in a trench formed in the cladding and an upper part protruding from the surface of the cladding (GIROUARD: Fig. 2a and part II).
Regarding claim 6, Girouard further teaches the first material is arranged at least in the lower part of the waveguide core; and/or the second material is arranged at least in the upper part of the waveguide core (in GIROUARD Fig. 2a and part II).
Regarding claim 8, Girouard further teaches the first material is barium titanate, for example, crystalline barium titanate (in GIROUARD: BaTiO3, see Fig. 2b).
Regarding claim 9, Girouard further teaches the 2D material is graphene or a material with an anisotropic behavior being dielectric out-of-plane and conductive in-plane (in GIROUARD: electrodes in Au).
Regarding claim 11, Girouard further teaches and the ‘790 publication further discloses the electric field is substantially parallel to the plane of the 2D material (see in GIROUARD in the whole document; and in the '790 publication Fig. 2 and corresponding description).
Claim(s) 1, 10, 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by GB 2441790 A patent publication.
Regarding claim 1, the '790 publication discloses (references in parentheses applying to this document): An integrated electro-optical absorption modulator (Fig. 2) comprising:
a cladding (Fig. 2 items 6 and 8);
a waveguide core arranged at least partly in the cladding and configured to guide light along an extension direction of the waveguide core (Fig. 2 item 4); and
a first electrode (Fig. 2 item 22) and a second electrode (Fig. 2 item 24) arranged on opposite sides of the waveguide core and each formed of a two-dimensional, 2D, material on a surface of the cladding or in the cladding (Fig. 2);
wherein each of the first electrode and the second electrode extends into the waveguide core; and
wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to apply an electric field across a modulation region of the waveguide core, and thereby to convert at least a part of the energy of the light in the modulation region between two orthogonal modes, wherein one of the two orthogonal modes is polarized perpendicular to the plane of the2 D material (Fig. 2 and page 3 lines 21-29, page 5 lines 1-10: 2D=planar lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 10, the ‘790 publication further discloses the cladding is made of silicon oxide, a silicon-based oxide, and aluminum oxide, or a hafnium oxide (in the '790 publication: page 16).
Regarding claim 12, the ‘790 publication further discloses the TM mode and the TE mode are phase-matched on the length of the modulation region in the extension direction (see in the '790 publication page 14 lines 12-21).
Regarding claims 13, 14, the ‘790 publication further discloses forming the cladding (6, 8) and the waveguide core (4) at least partly in the cladding (6, 8); and forming the first electrode (22) and the second electrode (24) of the 2D material on the surface of the cladding (6), epitaxially growing and patterning the lower part of the waveguide core on a silicon-based substrate, and encapsulating the lower part of the waveguide core with the cladding or epitaxially growing the lower part of the waveguide core on a silicon-based substrate and into a trench of the cladding provided on the silicon-based substrate (in the '790 publication: Fig. 2 and page 12 lines 11-21);
wherein the method further comprises:
forming the first electrode and the second electrode on the surface of the cladding and on a part of the lower part of the waveguide core (in the '790 publication page 12 lines 22 - 32); and growing, using a mask, the upper part of the waveguide core onto the lower part of the waveguide core and the parts of the first electrode and the second electrode formed on the lower part of the waveguide core (the '790 publication page 12 and claim 25).
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, 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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharma et al.
Regarding claim 7, Sharma teaches the EO modulator including the 2D electrodes (14, 16) extending into the core (12’) but does not specify that a ratio of a height of the lower part to a height of the upper part of the waveguide core measured from a center of the 2D material perpendicular to the plane of the 2D material is in a range of 0.75-1.25. However, Sharma states that values for the dimensions H, W, can be varied according to design considerations. Specifically, the width W and thickness H of the waveguide core need to be dimensionally selected to further optimize confinement, as high confinement minimizes optical loss from interaction of the optical mode with free carriers in the silicon electrodes (col. 3, para. 2). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to perform routine experimentations to determine the width, height of the core in relation to the electrode in order to optimize and minimize optical losses.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. JP2006162984 discloses a light modulator with electrodes (8, 10) extending into a core (7), Fig. 2 .
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/CHARLIE Y PENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
