Vien Van

Very high-order microring resonator filters for WDM applications

High-order microring resonators having from 1 to 11 coupled cavities are demonstrated. These filters exhibit low loss, flat tops, and out-of-band rejection ratios that can exceed 80 dB. They achieve performance that is suitable for commercial applications.

Optical sensing of biomolecules using microring resonators

A biosensor application of vertically coupled glass microring resonators with Q/spl sim/12 000 is introduced. Using balanced photodetection, very high signal to noise ratios, and thus high sensitivity to refractive index changes (limit of detection of 1.8/spl times/10/sup -5/ refractive index units), are achieved. Ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results indicate successful modification of biosensor surfaces. Experimental data obtained separately for a bulk change of refractive index of the medium and for avidin-biotin binding on the ring surface are reported. Excellent repeatability and close-to-complete surface regeneration after binding are experimentally demonstrated.

Optical signal processing using nonlinear semiconductor microring resonators

Recent fabrication advances have enabled compact semiconductor microring resonators to be fabricated with high-finesse values and picosecond cavity lifetimes. These devices have potential applications in optical signal processing as all-optical switches, multiplexers and logic gates. Theoretical analysis shows a maximum reduction in the switching power proportional to the fourth power of the field enhancement in the microring. An enhancement in the wavelength conversion efficiency by four-wave mixing which is proportional to the eighth power of the field enhancement is also predicted and experimentally confirmed. Experimental results demonstrating bistability, picosecond switching using pump and probe excitation, optical time-division demultiplexing, spatial pulse routing and four-wave mixing in GaAs-AlGaAs microring resonators are reported. Apart from the bistable response, which was thermally induced, the nonlinear effects observed in the microrings were caused by the two-photon absorption process. Applications of microrings to realize all-optical logic gates are also proposed.

All-optical nonlinear switching in GaAs-AlGaAs microring resonators

In this paper, we demonstrate all-optical nonlinear switching in compact GaAs-AlGaAs microring resonators at the 1.55-/spl mu/m wavelength. Switching is accomplished in the pump-and-probe configuration in which the pump-and-probe signals are tuned to different resonance wavelengths of the microring. Refractive index change in the microring due to free carriers generated by two photon absorption is used to switch the probe beam in and out of resonance. Measured transient responses of the pump and probe through the microring show good agreement with theoretical predictions based on nonlinear pump-probe interaction due to two photon absorption.

Conductor-gap-silicon plasmonic waveguides and passive components at subwavelength scale

Subwavelength conductor-gap-silicon plasmonic waveguides along with compact S-bends and Y-splitters were theoretically investigated and experimentally demonstrated on a silicon-on-insulator platform. A thin SiO2 gap between the conductor layer and silicon core provides subwavelength confinement of light while a long propagation length of 40 microm was achieved. Coupling of light between the plasmonic and conventional silicon photonic waveguides was also demonstrated with a high efficiency of 80%. The compact sizes, low loss operation, efficient input/output coupling, combined with a CMOS-compatible fabrication process, make these conductor-gap-silicon plasmonic devices a promising platform for realizing densely-integrated plasmonic circuits.

Parallel-cascaded semiconductor microring resonators for high-order and wide-FSR filters

We demonstrate an optical channel dropping filter (OCDF) using three parallel-cascaded vertically coupled microrings with improved rolloff, bandpass flattening, and wide free spectral range (FSR) compared to a single-ring OCDF using single-mode tightly confined waveguides in both GaAs-AlGaAs and GaInAsP-InP. We achieve FSRs of 30 nm for GaAs-AlGaAs and 40 nm for GaInAsP-InP devices, which are three and four times greater, respectively, than those for single rings. The rolloff is 2.8 times faster than that for a single ring.

Propagation loss in single-mode GaAs-AlGaAs microring resonators: measurement and model

We report propagation loss measurements in single-mode GaAs-AlGaAs racetrack microresonators with bending radii from 2.7 /spl mu/m to 9.7 /spl mu/m. The experimental data were found to be in good agreement with a physical-loss model which accounts for the bending loss, the scattering loss due to surface roughness on the waveguide sidewalls, and the transition loss at the straight-to-bend waveguide junctions. The model also enables us to identify the dominant loss mechanisms in semiconductor microcavities. We found that for racetracks with large bending radii (greater than 4 /spl mu/m, in our case) the loss due to surface-roughness scattering in the curved waveguides dominates, whereas for small-radius rings, the modal mismatch at the straight-to-bend waveguide junctions causes the biggest loss. This result suggests that circular-shaped rings are preferable in the realization of ultrasmall low-loss microcavities. We also show that the round-trip propagation loss in small-radius racetrack microresonators can be minimized by introducing a lateral offset at the straight-to-bend waveguide junctions.

Experimental realization of subwavelength plasmonic slot waveguides on a silicon platform

We report the experimental realization of horizontal plasmonic slot waveguides capable of subdiffraction modal confinement at IR wavelengths. These waveguides have a propagation length of approximately 6 lambda(g) and are monolithically integrated with conventional silicon photonic waveguides on the same silicon-on-insulator platform. Direct coupling of light from the silicon waveguides to the plasmonic waveguides was achieved with an efficiency of 30% using taper-funnel couplers to obtain mode matching between the two waveguide systems.

Vertically coupled GaInAsP–InP microring resonators

Vertically coupled microring resonator channel-dropping filters are demonstrated in the GaInAsP-InP material system. These devices were fabricated without regrowth. In this method, low-loss single-mode waveguides are removed from the growth substrate and bonded to a GaAs transfer substrate with benzocyclobutene. This permits fabrication of vertically coupled waveguides on both sides of the epilayer. Optical quality facets are obtained by cleaving through the transfer substrate. Operation of single-mode, single-ring optical channel-dropping filters is demonstrated.

Specific detection of proteins using photonic crystal waveguides

Specific detection of proteins is demonstrated using planar photonic crystal waveguides. Using immobilized biotin as probe, streptavidin was captured, causing the waveguide mode cut-off to red-shift. The device was shown to detect a 2.5 nm streptavidin film with a 0.86 nm cut-off red-shift. An improved photonic crystal waveguide sensor design is also described and shown to have a 40% improved bulk refractive index response.