A MEMS tunable photonic ring resonator with small footprint and large free spectral range

Errando-Herranz, Carlos; Niklaus, Frank; Stemme, Göran; Gylfason, Kristinn B.

doi:10.1109/transducers.2015.7181094

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Such filters have already shown low-power wavelength tuning [14], but since the tuning mechanism was based on deflecting a deposited cantilever on top of a ring resonator, it resulted in a short wavelength shift of 122 pm. In previous work, we presented a novel ring resonator tuning principle applied to a notch filter that resulted in good optical performance and significant tuning [15,16]. These devices, along with other MEMS tunable notch filters with large tuning [17], had no drop port, which is a requirement for optical networks and nontrivial to implement in many previously demonstrated technologies.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…This could be achieved with the presented technology by using the Vernier effect on cascaded rings [19], but a larger tuning range of a single ring is still preferred. This can be realized by reducing the ring size (already demonstrated in [16]) and increasing the tuning effect. A larger tuning effect can in principle be achieved by (i) displacing a larger fraction of the ring waveguide, (ii) reducing the slab thickness, or (iii) reducing the ring waveguide width, which will require tighter control over fabrication processes such as the silicon dry etch and lithography.…”

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Low-power microelectromechanically tunable silicon photonic ring resonator add-drop filter

et al. 2015

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We experimentally demonstrate a microelectromechanically (MEMS) tunable photonic ring resonator add-drop filter, fabricated in a simple silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based process. The device uses electrostatic parallel plate actuation to perturb the evanescent field of a silicon waveguide, and achieves a 530 pm resonance wavelength tuning, i.e., more than a fourfold improvement compared to previous MEMS tunable ring resonator add-drop filters. Moreover, our device has a static power consumption below 100 nW, and a tuning rate of −62 pm∕V, i.e., the highest reported rate for electrostatic tuning of ring resonator add-drop filters. Ring resonators are key components of silicon photonics due to their small footprint and ability to filter and route narrowband signals. The rings show standing wave resonances when the optical path length of the ring waveguide is a multiple of the excitation wavelength. Thus, by changing the optical length of the ring, e.g., by perturbing the effective refractive index of the waveguide mode, one can tune the resonance wavelength. [7], and tunable lasers [8]. Most of these applications require densely packed high-Q rings that are able to add and drop down to 50 GHz channels, with wavelength tuning spanning a number of channels. Moreover, such applications require ring resonators with independent tuning, i.e., low cross-talk between adjacent devices.Ring resonators tuned by free-carrier injection have achieved high-speed tuning [9]. However, free-carrier absorption results in high optical loss and short wavelength shift, which limits their usefulness for add-drop applications. Thermo-optic tuning of ring resonators has shown large wavelength shift with low optical loss [10], but high power consumption and thermal cross-talk between neighboring devices hamper its applicability in densely integrated optical interconnects [11]. Integration of electro-optic materials with low static power dissipation have so far shown low tuning effects, high driving voltages, and optical interference due to fabrication complexity [12]. Table 1 summarizes reported performance of tunable ring resonator add-drop filters.MEMS tunable ring resonators are good candidates for wavelength selection in optical networks due to their low static power dissipation and high optical Q. Such filters have already shown low-power wavelength tuning [14], but since the tuning mechanism was based on deflecting a deposited cantilever on Fig. 1. Most applications of tunable add-drop filters require a large number of densely packed devices with low cross-talk. Here, we demonstrate a low-power MEMS tunable add-drop filter fabricated by a simple SOI-based process. Parallel plate actuation of a free-standing cantilever that contains the ring resonator waveguide changes the waveguide geometry. This affects the effective refractive index of the resonant optical mode, resulting in a shift of resonance wavelength.

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Low-power microelectromechanically tunable silicon photonic ring resonator add-drop filter

et al. 2015

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“…An electrostatic silicon MEMS tuner was demonstrated in 2015 [4], [5]. But silicon is not capable of handling high optical pump power due to its two-photon absorption, precluding it from being used in Kerr comb based optical WDM.…”

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PORT: A piezoelectric optical resonance tuner

Dong

Tian

Zervas

et al. 2018

2018 IEEE Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

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This abstract presents an aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric actuator for tuning optical resonance modes of silicon nitride photonic resonators. The AlN actuator is fabricated on top of a thick silicon dioxide cladding that encapsulates the nitride resonator and waveguide. The PORT is defined by undercutting the cladding layer with a lateral silicon etch. It tunes the optical wavelength by 20pm on applying 60V to the top electrode with a 0.5nA current draw. The thick oxide cladding preserves the resonator's loaded quality factor Q optical of 64,000 across the entire tuning range. The first bending mode is at 1.1MHz enabling a tuning speed of <1µs.

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A design method of comb-drive actuators for linear tuning characteristics in mechanically tunable optical filters

Hah

2015

Microsyst Technol

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A MEMS tunable photonic ring resonator with small footprint and large free spectral range

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Low-power microelectromechanically tunable silicon photonic ring resonator add-drop filter

Low-power microelectromechanically tunable silicon photonic ring resonator add-drop filter

PORT: A piezoelectric optical resonance tuner

A design method of comb-drive actuators for linear tuning characteristics in mechanically tunable optical filters

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