A kinematically aligned optical connector may be implemented with a silicon PIC component and a glass substrate component. The kinematically aligned optical connector includes one or more kinematic connectors or mechanical alignment features and visual fiducials that enable true kinematic coupling (i.e., in a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, full constraint in all 6 degrees of freedom, meaning, X, Y, Z planes and all 3 angles), and enables an increased thickness of the glass substrate material of the glass waveguide substrate.