CMOS-compatible Microring Resonator Research Articles

Integrated frequency comb source of heralded single photons

We report an integrated photon pair source based on a CMOS-compatible microring resonator that generates multiple, simultaneous, and independent photon pairs at different wavelengths in a frequency comb compatible with fiber communication wavelength division multiplexing channels (200 GHz channel separation) and with a linewidth that is compatible with quantum memories (110 MHz). It operates in a self-locked pump configuration, avoiding the need for active stabilization, making it extremely robust even at very low power levels.

Self-locked optical parametric oscillation in a CMOS compatible microring resonator: a route to robust optical frequency comb generation on a chip

We report a novel geometry for OPOs based on nonlinear microcavity resonators. This approach relies on a self-locked scheme that enables OPO emission without the need for thermal locking of the pump laser to the microcavity resonance. By exploiting a CMOS-compatible microring resonator, we achieve oscillation featured by a complete absence of "shutting down", i.e. the self-terminating behavior that is a very common and detrimental occurrence in externally pumped OPOs. Further, our scheme consistently produces very wide bandwidth (>300nm, limited by our experimental set-up) combs that oscillate at a spacing equal to the FSR of the micro cavity resonance.

Ultra-low Power Frequency Conversion in Two-photon-absorption Free Micro Ring Resonator

All-optical integrated circuits bring the promise to vastly increase the bandwidth, improve the flexibility as well as reduce the cost of future communication networks. All optical integrated components, like switches and wavelength converters, must meet fundamental requirements such as low optical losses, strong nonlinear response and ease of fabrication. To date, however, research on these devices has been based either on semiconductors, such as silicon and GaAs, or highly nonlinear glasses, such as chalcogenides which, although exhibit a Kerr nonlinearity (n2) of 100x-400x silica glass, also present limitations such as remarkable linear and nonlinear losses and, for certain applications, a not developed fabrication techniques. Specifically, the possibility to rely upon a mature technology recently has proved itself to be a powerful solution to fabricate micrometric resonant structures which are able to locally enhance the desired nonlinearities. In this work we present the first example of nonlinear optics in silica glass waveguides using continuous wave (CW) light. We achieve wavelength conversion via four wave mixing (FWM) at ultra-low (approximate to 5 mW CW) power levels in C-MOS compatible micro-ring resonator.

Design and evaluation of an arbitration-free passive optical crossbar for on-chip interconnection networks

With recent advances in silicon nanophotonics, optical crossbars based on CMOS-compatible microring resonators have emerged as viable on-chip optical interconnection networks to deliver high-bandwidth communication at low power dissipation with a small footprint. This paper describes the design, fabrication and evaluation of an arbitration-free passive crossbar based on a microring resonator matrix that can be used to route wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) signals across the chip. The salient feature of the proposed design is the ability to support multicasting and many-to-one communication efficiently (without arbitration), which makes it suitable for implementing cache coherency protocols and on-chip interconnect in future many-core processors.