Microring resonators (MRs) are important photonic devices for large-port-count photonic circuits owing to their micrometer-scale device sizes. We describe the implementation of a 4×4 wavelength-reconfigurable photonic switch consisting of eight tunable MRs fabricated on a less expensive material platform: silicon on insulator. Wavelength reconfiguration is achieved through independent thermo-optic tuning of MRs with localized Nichrome microheaters fabricated on the same silicon-on-insulator substrate. A free spectral range of 18 nm and a 3-dB linewidth of 0.1 nm were observed for the fabricated MRs with a diameter of approximately 10 µm. The switch device shows negligible channel crosstalk (<0.01 nm) and moderate switching response time (<1 ms). The switch can potentially be scaled up to benefit the development of large-scale integrated photonics.
Microstructure manipulation is a fundamental process to further the study of biology and medicine, as well as to advance micro- and nano-system applications. The manipulation of micro and nanostructures has been achieved through various microgripper devices developed recently, which lead to advances in single cell manipulation and micromachine assembly. However, the physical, mechanical, optical and chemical information about the microstructure under study is usually extracted from macroscopic instrumentation, such as confocal microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. In this paper we describe the design, simulation, fabrication and characterization (mechanical and optical) of a novel Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical-System (MOEMS) optical microgripper. This is the first device of this kind, which enables the direct manipulation, mechanical characterization, and simultaneous optical characterization of microstructures. Optical fluorescence measurements or identification, as well as absorption spectroscopy are possible with this new device. The device is implemented in SU-8 due to its suitable optical and mechanical properties. The current generation of the device was designed to manipulate structures with dimensions lower than ~5 μm.
Micro-ring resonators have been traditionally fabricated using expensive III-V materials such as InP or GaAs. Device
tuning is typically to utilize the electro-optic effect of the III-V materials that usually leads to complex device layer
structures. As another tuning approach, thermo-optic tuning of micro-ring resonators is commonly achieved by heating
up the whole chip. In general, it is more challenging to achieve highly localized heating on a common chip for
independent tuning of multiple micro-ring resonators residing on the same substrate. To address these issues, we
describe the development of wavelength reconfigurable photonic switching using thermally tuned micro-ring resonators
fabricated on a low-cost silicon-on-insulator substrate. Independent tuning of multiple micro-ring resonators, spaced at
250 µm, is realized with highly localized micro heaters (50×50 μm2 per heater area) fabricated on the same silicon
substrate. Owing to the large thermo-optic effect of silicon (Δn/ΔT=1.8×10-4 K-1), 8 mA heating current is sufficient to
tune a micro-ring resonator with a 3-dB spectral line width of 0.1 nm by 2.5 nm while creating a minor peak shift of less
than 0.04 nm for an adjacent resonator. The switching response time is about 1 ms. A 1×4 wavelength reconfigurable
photonic switch device has been demonstrated. With a resonator diameter of approximately 10 μm (greater than 18 nm
in free spectral range of each micro-ring resonator), larger port-count switch matrix with wavelength reconfiguration on
a small device foot print is feasible for the development of large-scale integrated photonics.
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