US Patent 11525958 Off-cut wafer with a supported outcoupler

Configurations for a photonics device with a vertical outcoupler and fabrication operations thereof are disclosed. The photonics device may include an off-cut substrate with a cavity. The cavity may be coated with a buffer layer, which may form the vertical outcoupler. The cavity may be filled with a fill material that provides structural integrity to the cavity. The off-cut substrate may have a first and a second cladding layer above and below it, to provide cladding for the waveguide structure. In some examples, light may propagate through the off-cut substrate and may be received by the outcoupler. The outcoupler may reflect and redirect the light out of the waveguide structure and toward one or more optical elements. The optical element(s) may provide the light to a launch region in a system interface and/or to a sample.