Compact silicon microring-assisted directional couplers for optical signal processing applications

摘要

We propose and demonstrate a compact microring-assisted directional coupler in the silicon-on-insulatornmaterial system. An analytical model based on the strongly coupled mode theory shows that the device cannbe designed to have a wide range of spectral characteristics, including sharp asymmetric Fano line shapes,nwhich can be used for WDM, switching, and sensing applications. The measured transmission spectra of thenfabricated device with a 5-u0001m-radius microring resonator exhibited an asymmetric spectral response char-nacteristic of the Fano resonance as predicted by the analytical model. © 2009 Optical Society of America