Active polarization controller based on micro-ring resonators.

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Integrated Optics
• Semiconductor Devices

Background:

• On-chip polarization handling is critical for robust optical interconnects, as polarization sensitivity limits performance.
• Existing polarization controllers often face challenges with size, integration, and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel on-chip polarization controller (PC).
• To achieve active conversion of arbitrary input polarization states to the transverse-electric (TE) mode.
• To validate the device's performance on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform.

Main Methods:

• Design and fabrication of a polarization controller utilizing micro-ring resonators.
• Experimental demonstration of polarization conversion using phase manipulation.
• Characterization of insertion loss, polarization dependent loss (PDL), and wavelength tunability.

Main Results:

• Successful demonstration of the first PC based on micro-ring resonators.
• Achieved conversion of any input polarization state to the TE mode.
• Insertion loss < 0.8 dB and PDL ~ 0.5 dB.
• Demonstrated wavelength tunability across the C band and compatibility with 35 Gbps data transmission.

Conclusions:

• The proposed micro-ring resonator-based PC offers a compact and efficient solution for on-chip polarization management.
• This technology is vital for advancing high-performance optical interconnects.
• The device shows promise for practical applications in optical communication systems.