Characteristic Analysis of a Smooth Square Microring Resonant Wavelength Multiplexer

Novel formulas of amplitude coupling ratio and transmission functions are presented for a smooth square microring resonant (MRR) wavelength multiplexer. By using these formulas, transmission characteristics are analyzed and some parameters are optimized for such a 1 × 8 polymeric device around the central wavelength of 1550.92 nm with the wavelength spacing of 1.6 nm. In the design of the device, by using the smooth squares, a thicker coupling layer is obtained, and by resonating the light at different resonant orders in different filter elements, the ring radius increment is increased sufficiently, which is of benefit to the fabrication of the device. When the amplitude coupling ratio is 0.2, the 3-dB bandwidth of the spectral response is about 0.2 nm; the ratio between -1 dB and -10 dB bandwidths is about 0.2; the insertion loss is less than 1.33 dB; and the crosstalk is below -21 dB for every vertical output channel of the device.