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Fabrication of Silica Ultra High Quality Factor Microresonators
Published on: July 2, 2012
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Compact silicon-germanium microresonators for long-wave infrared frequencies.
Optics Express
|November 11, 2025
Summary
Compact microresonators utilizing silicon-germanium waveguides achieve high quality factors for long-wave infrared applications. These devices show promise for optical filtering and comb generation.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optical Engineering
- Materials Science
- Infrared Technology
Background:
- Microresonators are crucial for integrated photonic circuits.
- Long-wave infrared (LWIR) applications require specialized optical components.
- Silicon-germanium (SiGe) offers tunable optical properties for infrared applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To fabricate and characterize compact microresonators for the long-wave infrared (LWIR) spectrum.
- To investigate the performance of silicon-germanium graded waveguides in microresonator designs.
- To assess the potential of these microresonators for advanced photonic applications.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of microresonators with 100 µm radius using silicon-germanium graded waveguides.
- Optical characterization of the microresonators at LWIR wavelengths (7.5 µm and 8 µm).
- Measurement of intrinsic quality factors and extinction ratios.
Main Results:
- Achieved intrinsic quality factors exceeding 4×10⁴ at 7.5 µm and 2×10⁴ at 8 µm.
- Demonstrated resonances with a 0 dB extinction ratio.
- Successfully fabricated compact LWIR microresonators.
Conclusions:
- The developed SiGe microresonators exhibit high performance for LWIR operation.
- These microresonators are suitable for integration into on-chip optical systems.
- Potential applications include Kerr-comb generation, optical filtering, and multiplexing in the LWIR range.
