Coupled microstrip-cavities under oblique incidence of semi-guided waves: a lossless integrated optical add-drop filter

Abstract

We investigate optical microresonators consisting of either one or two coupled rectangular strips between upper and lower slab waveguides. The cavities are evanescently excited under oblique angles by thin-film guided, in-plane unguided waves supported by one of the slab waveguides. Beyond a specific incidence angle, losses are fully suppressed. The interaction between the guided mode of the cavity-strip and the incoming slab modes leads to resonant behavior for specific incidence angles and gaps. For a single cavity, at resonance, the input power is equally split among each of the four output ports, while for two cavities an add-drop filter can be realized that, at resonance, routes the incoming power completely to the forward drop waveguide via the cavity. For both applications, the strength of the interaction is controlled by the gaps between cavities and waveguides.