Optical Frequency Comb Materials Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing activity peaked in 2022 at 14 families and has not been matched since, suggesting the core thin-film lithium niobate resonator claims were staked out early and the field is now consolidating rather than expanding.
- One family, three continuations the most-cited record, US20210096444A1, recurs as WO2019213137A1 and US11537026B2 under the same title — a single invention protected across multiple jurisdictions rather than three independent breakthroughs.
- G02F dominates at 34 of 34 records while H01S laser-integration claims sit at just 12 and coating/deposition claims (C23C) appear only once — a sign that material-deposition routes are largely unclaimed.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (6) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 34 patent families filed against optical frequency comb generation that specifically claim advanced resonator materials — thin-film lithium niobate, aluminum nitride nonlinear films, high-Q resonator substrates and Kerr nonlinear media. The search combines frequency-comb terminology in the title/abstract with material terms in the title, claims and description, restricted to IPC classes covering optical modulation (G02F1/35, G02F1/355) and crystal growth (C30B29). It is a narrow, materials-first cut of a much larger frequency-comb literature.
Coverage runs from 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years of the trend will read lower than actual filing activity once those applications publish.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 34-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
A plateau after a single peak year
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 14 in 2022, then did not sustain that pace. A flat or declining midpoint-to-present trajectory in a 34-family dataset points to a field where the foundational claims are largely filed, not one still in an early filing surge.
Concentration in optical modulation, thin coverage elsewhere
Every record in the dataset carries a G02F classification, confirming the search is tightly centred on optical control and modulation. H01S laser-integration claims appear in 12 records, showing meaningful overlap with pump-laser integration work, while C23C (coating/deposition) and H04B (transmission) each appear only once — signalling that material-deposition process claims and system-level transmission claims are largely outside this filing population.
Shares are the percentage of the 34 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Optical Frequency Comb Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about optical frequency comb advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records
Optical frequency comb generation in integrated lithium niobate devices
Kerr and electro-optic frequency comb generation in integrated lithium niobate devices is provided. A microring resonator comprising lithium niobate is disposed on a thermal oxide substrate, with electrodes positioned along its inner and outer edges to modulate the refractive index. A pump laser is optically coupled to the microring, which emits an electro-optic frequency comb when the electrodes are driven at a frequency equal to the microring's free-spectral-range.Filed by President and Fellows of Harvard College; published 2021-04-01.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20210096444A1 | Optical frequency comb generation in integrated lithium niobate devices | 29 |
| 2 | US20210072616A1 | Integrated electro-optic frequency comb generator | 17 |
| 3 | WO2019213137A1 | Optical frequency comb generation in integrated lithium niobate devices | 14 |
| 4 | CN115016190A | 基于薄膜铌酸锂的自参考锁定光频梳产生系统 | 12 |
| 5 | US11537026B2 | Optical frequency comb generation in integrated lithium niobate devices | 11 |
| 6 | US11307484B2 | Integrated electro-optic frequency comb generator | 8 |
| 7 | US20230033612A1 | Optical resonator frequency comb | 7 |
| 8 | CN113093448A | 混合集成型片上光频梳及其制备方法 | 6 |
| 9 | US11733586B2 | Integrated electro-optic frequency comb generator | 2 |
| 10 | US11506953B2 | Downhole telemetry system using frequency combs | 2 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings; treat them as a signal of prior-art density, not of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the family-level data is normalised: where claims are dense, where citation weight concentrates, and where the technology map still has room.
The surge has already happened
A single peak year followed by a flatter trajectory through the most recent cut-off suggests the core thin-film lithium niobate resonator architecture is largely claimed. New entrants filing broad resonator-material claims now compete against a dense 2020-2022 prior-art layer.
One invention family, protected three ways
The most-cited record, its PCT filing and its granted US counterpart all share the same title and inventive core. That pattern — one invention pursued across multiple offices — is common where an applicant expects broad commercial relevance and wants jurisdictional coverage rather than defensive breadth.
Modulation claims dominate; deposition claims are scarce
Every record touches optical control/modulation (G02F), but only one touches coating and surface deposition (C23C). Process-level claims on how the nonlinear material is deposited or grown onto the resonator are almost entirely absent from this population, despite being classified separately under C30B29 in the search itself.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to optical frequency comb advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape
Filing in this niche is split between individual inventor-assignees and a small set of US research universities, with limited recent-year momentum reported for any of the tracked names.
Torres Co Victor and Bjarki Helgason Oskar
The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset, at seven shared families, points to a tightly held inventor group rather than a corporate assignee filing at scale — worth checking for licensing terms before building around adjacent claims.
Harvard and Stanford's joint filings
Harvard University (President and Fellows of Harvard College) and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University co-assign four families, consistent with the representative record above and reflecting an academic collaboration on lithium niobate resonator design.
No assignee shows current-year filing activity
Every tracked assignee — including Harvard, Caltech, Stanford and the two lead inventors — shows zero filings in the latest recorded year. Given the 18-month publication lag, this likely understates real activity rather than confirming a full stop, but it means the visible frontier of new claims is thin right now.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| TORRES CO VICTOR | 0 | — |
| BJARKI HELGASON OSKAR | 0 | — |
| Chaoguang Technology (Chaoguang Corp.) | 0 | — |
| President and Fellows of Harvard College | 0 | — |
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | 0 | — |
| The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | 0 | — |
| ILOOMINA AB | 0 | — |
| CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
This landscape is a starting point for freedom-to-operate and whitespace decisions, not a substitute for claim-by-claim review.
Run a claim-level FTO check on the top-cited family
Before designing a microring resonator with electrode-driven modulation, review the independent claims of US20210096444A1 and its continuations line by line against your specific geometry and drive scheme.
Open in EurekaMap the deposition-process gap
With only one C23C-classified record in the set, a targeted search on aluminum nitride and lithium niobate deposition methods for resonator fabrication may surface claim space this dataset's scope excludes.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
In this dataset, it means the patent claims or describes a specific nonlinear or high-Q material used to generate the comb — most commonly thin-film lithium niobate, but also aluminum nitride nonlinear films and other Kerr nonlinear materials. The search deliberately excludes frequency-comb patents that only describe system-level or measurement applications without claiming a resonator material. That is why the dataset is 34 families rather than the much larger number covering frequency combs generally.
The trend data shows 2022 as the peak year at 14 families, with activity not sustaining that pace afterward. This is consistent with a foundational-claims pattern: once the core thin-film lithium niobate microring architecture was claimed by a handful of early filers, later entrants had less open claim space to stake out with broad material claims. Publication lag also means the most recent one to two years understate true filing activity, since applications filed in 2024-2025 may not yet have published.
The most-cited record in this dataset, US20210096444A1, is assigned to President and Fellows of Harvard College, with the same invention also appearing as a PCT filing and a granted US patent under closely related titles. Harvard also co-files with Stanford's Board of Trustees on a separate cluster of four families. That said, citation count reflects age and visibility within the corpus more than current commercial dominance, so a full competitive picture requires checking assignment and licensing status directly.
Based on the IPC composition, yes — coating and surface-deposition claims (C23C) appear in only one of the 34 records, despite crystal-growth methods (C30B29) being part of the search scope. This suggests that while the resonator device architecture is well claimed, the specific processes for depositing or growing the nonlinear material onto the resonator are comparatively under-claimed. Laser-resonator hybrid integration, appearing in only 12 of 34 records versus full coverage in G02F, is a second area worth checking.
Citation counts in a search-scoped dataset like this one favour older filings simply because they have had more time to accumulate citations from later applicants. The top-cited record here dates to a 2021 publication with three related filings, which naturally outranks more recent, potentially more relevant work that has not yet been cited. Use citation rank as a guide to historical influence and prior-art density, not as a direct measure of which technology route is winning commercially today.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.