Hybrid Si-LiNbO3 microring electro-optically tunable resonators for active photonic devices.

Hybrid Si-LiNbO3 electro-optic tunable ring resonators have been proposed and demonstrated as a path to achieving ultracompact and high-speed electro-optic devices. Free standing single crystal LiNbO3 microplatelets (~mm long and ~1 µm thick) were obtained from a z-cut LiNbO3 substrate by ion implantation and thermal treatment. The platelets were transferred and thermally bonded on top of Si resonators that were fabricated in a Si-on-insulator platform by a 0.18 µm standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process. For the hybrid microring resonator, a free spectral range of 16.5 nm, a finesse F of ~1.67 × 10², a Q-factor of ~1.68 × 104, and an effective r coefficient of ~1.7 pm/V were achieved for the TE mode. These values are in good agreement with the calculated results.

Analysis and demonstration of coupling control in polymer microring resonators using photobleaching.

We describe postfabrication trimming of coupling in both laterally and vertically coupled polymer microring resonators (MRRs), using photobleaching. For both cases, a tapered directional-coupler-based simple analytical model is developed to simulate the change in coupling due to a bleaching-induced decrease in refractive index. A tightly focused laser beam spot (a few kilowatts per square centimeter) is used to precisely bleach the coupling region alone. Coupling control is achieved for (1) high-Q passive rings by bleaching the vertically coupled chromophore-doped bus waveguide, and for (2) laterally coupled electro-optic ring modulators, by bleaching both the ring and the waveguide in the coupling region. The power coupling ratio (PCR) of an undercoupled high-Q MRR filter is reduced by 0.54 percentage points for the TE mode, causing the MRR finesse to increase from a value of 72 to 108. For a ring modulator, the PCR was increased by 3.5 percentage points for the TM mode, causing a 6 dB increase in extinction ratio, to achieve a final value of nearly 25 dB. Phase/group-delay characterization confirmed that the ring was trimmed toward critical coupling.

Microring-resonator-based sensor measuring both the concentration and temperature of a solution.

We propose and investigate experimentally a micro-ring-resonator-based sensor with which we can measure both the concentration and temperature of glucose solution. It consists of two micro-ring resonators consecutively coupled to a bus waveguide by the overlap between them. The resonance wavelengths of the two resonators change similarly with the temperature but differently with the concentration. For that purpose, the core of just one micro-ring resonator is exposed directly to the solution. Using polymers, conventional processes, and a polymer lift-off process, we implement the sensor. Through the measurement of the fabricated sensor, we obtain its characteristics of measuring the temperature and concentration.

All-dielectric photonic-assisted wireless receiver.

High Power Microwave (HPM) weapons and other sources of intense microwave power pose a growing threat to modern RF receivers. To address this problem, all-dielectric photonic-assisted receivers have been proposed and demonstrated. Here, we describe a new configuration of this type with 15 dB better sensitivity over prior designs. The complete lack of metal and electronics in the front-end offers immunity against damage from intense electromagnetic radiation. In this experiment, detection of C band electromagnetic signal at 6.54 GHz with a sensitivity of -112 dBm/Hz is demonstrated.

Vertical adiabatic transition between a silica planar waveguide and an electro-optic polymer fabricated with gray-scale lithography.

We report on a vertical adiabatic transition between silica planar waveguides and electro-optic (EO) polymer. Gray-scale lithography was used to pattern a polymer transition with an exponential profile. Excess losses of the order of 1 dB were measured, and good mode matching to simulation was observed. This configuration, which married the advantages of both silica and EO-polymer planar-optic technologies, demonstrates a new technique for fabricating hybrid active devices with high modulation speed, low insertion loss, and complex geometries.

Integration of electro-optic polymer modulators with low-loss fluorinated polymer waveguides.

We have demonstrated a hybrid Mach-Zehnder optical modulator consisting of a large-core, low-loss fluorinated passive polymer waveguide and an electro-optic (EO) polymer waveguide. The combination exhibits low fiber coupling loss to the passive waveguide and reduced transmission loss because the EO polymer waveguide is used only in the active region. The two waveguides are connected by vertical tapers that permit low-loss adiabatic coupling between the two modes. The half-wave voltage and the insertion loss of the fabricated modulator are 3.6 V and 6 dB, respectively, at a wavelength of 1.55 microm . The estimated coupling loss with the standard single-mode fiber is ~0.5 dB.