Temporal ringdown of silicon-on-insulator racetrack resonators

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Nanophotonics
• Integrated photonics

Background:

• Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wire racetrack resonators are key components in integrated photonic circuits.
• Accurate characterization of resonator properties like round trip time and quality factor is crucial for device performance.
• Traditional continuous wave (CW) spectroscopy can be time-consuming and may not capture dynamic behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform time-domain ring-down measurements on SOI wire racetrack resonators.
• To validate the accuracy of these temporal measurements against CW spectroscopy and theoretical models.
• To assess the potential of this technique for characterizing photonic devices.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 150 fs input pulses for excitation.
• Employed a parametric process in a nonlinear crystal for gating and amplification of weak output pulses.
• Measured cavity round trip time and quality factor using the ring-down technique.

Main Results:

• Achieved excellent agreement between ring-down temporal measurements and CW spectroscopic data.
• Demonstrated strong concordance between experimental results and an analytic model based on numerical solutions for vectorial waveguide modes.
• Successfully characterized the temporal dynamics of SOI racetrack resonators.

Conclusions:

• Ring-down temporal measurements provide a viable and accurate method for characterizing SOI racetrack resonators.
• The technique offers an alternative or complementary approach to CW spectroscopy for device analysis.
• Validated the performance of SOI wire racetrack resonators and the employed analytical model.