Planar silicon microrings as wavelength-multiplexed optical traps for storing and sensing particles

We demonstrate the trapping of particles with silicon microring resonators integrated with waveguides. Multiple microrings with different resonant wavelengths are integrated with each waveguide. We demonstrate that tuning the laser wavelength to the resonance wavelengths of different rings enables trapped particles to be transferred back and forth between the rings. We demonstrate that the change in output power arising from particle-induced resonance shift enables the real-time monitoring of trapped particles, such as their number and velocities, without the need for an external imaging system. The techniques we describe here could form the basis for small footprint systems in which objects are moved between multiple locations on a chip, at each of which different operations are performed and the objects' properties sensed.