Design of ring resonator based all optical switch for logic and arithmetic operations – A theoretical study

In this paper, a general analysis for non-linear micro-ring resonator as all optical switch is discussed in a vertically coupled GaAs–AlGaAs micro-ring resonator by carrier injection. The ring resonator is optically pumped, which results in temporal shift of resonant wavelength by refractive index change due to carrier injection. A green laser as optical pump beam is used to shift resonant wavelength 1.5 nm of the ring resonator. Simulation, analysis and overall transfer function of single ring as well as cascaded micro-ring resonator (MRR) is studied. A single circuit, consisting of three MRRs, capable to perform all the two input sixteen logic operations is studied and reported. The same circuit can also act as half adder/subtractor and single bit data comparator.     

Gaussian soliton generation using a 1.3 μm optical pulse in a micro-ring resonator for a new DWDM enhancement

We present a novel system of a Gaussian soliton generation using a 1.30 μm optical pulse in a nonlinear micro-ring resonator system, which can be used to form the soliton pulse trains within the new wavelength band. By using the suitable parameters, the soliton pulse trains with the center wavelength at 1.30 μm can be generated after the intense Gaussian pulse is input into the nonlinear micro-ring resonator system. The initial pulse bandwidth is enlarged and the signal amplified by the nonlinear Kerr effects type within the ring resonator. The simulation values are used associating with the practical device parameters, whereas the obtained results have shown that the wavelength enhancement of the center wavelength can be achieved. Furthermore, the maximum soliton output power of 12 W is obtained, which is available to perform the long-distance communication link. The common problem of soliton dispersion is minimized by the zero dispersion condition in this case. The major advantage of the proposed system is that the dense wavelength division of the center wavelength with the spectral width of 7.0 pm (10⁻¹⁵ m) and the free spectrum range of 400 pm can be generated and achieved. This is available for the used/installed wavelength enhancement, which can provide more available channel capacity in the existed public optical network.     

Thermally tunable microfiber knot resonator based erbium-doped fiber laser

A compact and tunable erbium-doped fiber laser is demonstrated using a highly doped fiber and a microfiber knot resonator (MKR) structure which is laid on the surface of a small peltier. The MKR functions as both a reflector and a tunable filter where tunability is achieved by varying the temperature of the resonator by heating the peltier. A stable laser output is achieved at the 1533 nm region with an optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) of 27 dB using a 65 mW of 980 nm pump power. The operating wavelength of the laser can be tuned from 1532.60 nm to 1533.49 nm as the temperature is increased from the room temperature of 24 to 90 °C. It is observed that the operating wavelength shifts to a longer wavelength as the temperature increases with an efficiency of 12.4 pm/°C. This is due to the thermally induced optical phase shift attributable to the changes in effective refractive index and optical path length of the MKR loop.     

Extinction ratio enhancement of SOA-based delayed-interference signal converter using detuned filtering

We demonstrate experimentally >3 dB extinction ratio improvement at the output of SOA-based delayed-interference signal converter (DISC) using optical off-centered filtering. Through careful modeling of the carrier and the phase dynamics, we explain in detail the origin of sub-pulses in the wavelength converted output, with an emphasis on the time-resolved frequency chirping of the output signal. Through our simulations we conclude that the sub-pulses and the main-pulses are oppositely chirped, which is also verified experimentally by analyzing the output with a chirp form analyzer. We propose and demonstrate an optical off-center filtering technique which effectively suppresses these sub-pulses. The effects of filter detuning and phase bias adjustment in the delayed-interferometer are experimentally characterized and optimized, leading to a >3 dB extinction ratio enhancement of the output signal.     

Design of dual-core resonant leaky optical fibre based gain flattening filters for erbium doped fibre amplifiers

We propose optical fibre based filters employing dual-core resonant leaky structure for gain equalization of erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA). Spectral loss variation of the structure has been utilized to suppress gain peak and, thus, flatten overall gain profile in the C-band. We show 15.7 dB flat gain with ± 1.6 dB ripple in the wavelength range from 1525 nm to 1555 nm using a single filter and 18±0.7 dB gain using two cascaded filters.     

Photonic microwave reconfigurable filter based on a tunable polymeric ring resonator

An integrated photonic microwave reconfigurable filter was proposed and realized incorporating a tunable polymeric ring resonator. Its passband could be shaped electrically by shifting the resonant peaks of the resonator via the thermo-optic effect. As for the achieved performance, the center frequency was 20 GHz, the extinction ratio ∼15 dB, the bandwidth 2 GHz, and the corresponding quality factor 10. The microwave output within the passband was varied efficiently by ∼27 dB with the rate of ∼6.7 dB/mW, while the wavelength tuning rate of the resonator was −0.02 nm/mW.     

All optical NOR and NAND gate based on nonlinear photonic crystal ring resonators

In this paper we proposed optical NOR and NAND gates. By combining nonlinear Kerr effect with photonic crystal ring resonators first we designed a structure, whose optical behavior can be controlled via input power intensity. The switching power threshold obtained for this structure equal to 2 kW/μm². For designing the proposed optical logic gates we employed two resonant rings with the same structures, both rings at the logic gates were designed such that their resonant wavelength be at λ = 1550 nm. Every proposed logic gate has one bias and two logic input ports. We used plane wave expansion and finite difference time domain methods for analyzing the proposed structures.     

Microwave excitation and readout of nano- and micron scale cantilevers

We show that a microwave near-field coaxial resonator system allows mechanical cantilever excitation on a scale much shorter than the microwave wavelength. Thermal noise is observed in the unexcited system, enabling room temperature displacement sensitivity of ∼70 fm/Hz^1/2. The measured force between near-field probe and cantilever varies with separation, in excellent agreement with theory. Uniquely, optical excitation and read-out lasers are also included. The dependence of mechanical resonator quality factor on ambient air pressure has been accurately measured. We have demonstrate passive cantilever mode cooling from 300 K to 80 K by frequency detuning the microwave resonator and propose pulsed cooling operation to enable several high-sensitivity applications.     

Extremely wide band Rayleigh resonant reflector with sharp angular spectra in near infrared wavelength band

In this paper, we propose an extremely broadband Rayleigh resonant reflector with sharp angular spectra operating in near infrared wavelength band, this device consisting of a single germanium resonant grating layer is designed and analyzed by using with the rigorous vector diffraction theory. At the Rayleigh angle, the first diffracted order can be appear from evanescent to a propagating one, thus, a very sharp angular spectrum characteristics can be presented in the device. Based on the guided mode resonant effect, high index material such as silicon and germanium can be designed as wide band reflector, beam splitter and polarizer in near infrared wavelength region. Through connecting Rayleigh phenomena and guided mode resonant effect, we can design a new kind of optical devices with versatile characteristics such as sharp angular spectra and extremely wide reflection band. In this paper, we present a Rayleigh resonant reflector with extremely high reflection (R > 99.5%) for TE polarization light over ∼600 nm wavelength range and sharp angular spectral distribution. In addition, it is shown from our calculations that the high-index nano-layer located adjacent to the substrate is seen to critically affect the resulting spectra of Rayleigh resonant reflector.     

Optical loss measurements in femtosecond laser written waveguides in glass

The optical loss is an important parameter for waveguides used in integrated optics. We measured the optical loss in waveguides written in silicate glass slides with high repetition-rate (MHz) femtosecond laser pulses. The average transmission loss of straight waveguides is about 0.3 dB/mm at a wavelength of 633 nm and 0.05 dB/mm at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The loss is not polarization dependent and the waveguides allow a minimum bending radius of 36 mm without additional loss. The average numerical aperture of the waveguides is 0.065 at a wavelength of 633 nm and 0.045 at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. In straight waveguides more than 90% of the transmission loss is due to scattering.     

Integrated photonic glucose biosensor using a vertically coupled microring resonator in polymers

A photonic glucose biosensor incorporating a vertically coupled polymeric microring resonator was proposed and accomplished. The concentration of a glucose solution was estimated by observing the shift in the resonant wavelength of the resonator. For achieving higher sensitivity the contrast between the effective refractive index of the polymeric waveguide and that of the analyte was minimized. Actually, the effective refractive index of the polymeric waveguide (n = ∼1.390) was substantially close to that (n = ∼1.333) of the fresh solution with no glucose. The fabricated resonator sensor with the free spectral range of 0.66 nm yielded a sensitivity of ∼280 pm/(g/dL), which corresponds to ∼200 nm/RIU (refractive index units) as a refractometric sensor, and provided a detection limit of refractive index change on the order of 10⁻⁵ RIU.     

Dense wavelength division demultiplexing using photonic crystal waveguides based on cavity resonance

We demonstrated a photonic crystal waveguide based dense wavelength division multiplexing device using the resonances in the cavities. The demultiplexing is achieved through filtering. This filtering is achieved by varying the radii of the surrounding holes of the cavity, which in turn changes the resonant wavelength of the cavity. The four wavelengths demultiplexed in the design are 0.8 nm apart in the optical region centered on 1.55 and 1.56 μm. The device designed and simulated has easy to realize structure as well as high quality factor. Two-dimensional Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) is chosen to do the simulation of this work.     

Effects produced by metal-coated near-field probes on the performance of silicon waveguides and resonators

We study the effects of metal-coated fiber near-field probes on the performance of nanophotonic devices. Employing a heterodyne near-field scanning optical microscope and analyzing transmission characteristics, we find that a metal-coated probe can typically introduce a 3 dB intensity loss and a 0.2 rad phase shift during characterization of a straight waveguide made in a silicon-on-insulator system. In resonant nanophotonic structures such as a 5 mum radius microring resonator, we demonstrate that the probe induces a 1 nm shift in resonant wavelength and decreases the resonator quality factor, Q, from 1100 to 480.     

Wavelength tunability of L-band fiber ring lasers using mechanically induced long-period fiber gratings

We report on oscillation wavelength control in erbium-doped fiber ring lasers by adjusting the period of a mechanically induced long-period fiber grating (LPFG) inserted into the fiber ring resonator. Pump light is provided by a 974 nm laser diode (LD), the emission of which is coupled into the fiber ring resonator through a wavelength-division multiplexing coupler. Laser oscillation occurs with a threshold pump LD current of 40 mA, corresponding to a threshold pump power of 5 mW. When a periodic pressure of 0.81 N/mm is applied to form the LPFG, the fiber ring laser exhibits the tunable range of 40.9 nm, i.e., from 1563.1 to 1604 nm, by changing the grating period.     

Role of optical resonator on the pointing stability of copper vapor laser beam

This paper presents a first comprehensive study on the pointing stability of copper vapor laser with an emphasis on bringing out the role of optical resonator. Long term (∼10 min), single pulse, far-field beam pointing stability of a 5.5 kHz repetition rate copper vapor laser (λ = 510 nm) with plane-plane, unstable and filtering resonators, is studied. It is established that the resonator optics largely decides the CVL pointing stability. Minimum beam pointing angle of 8 μrad from generalized diffraction filtered resonator (GDFR) is obtained in contrast to a maximum value of 120 μrad from the plane-plane resonator. The unstable resonators data is in between. The relative trends in CVL pointing stability are discussed in terms of wave-front distortions due to resonator mode build up from optical noise, thermal and mirror misalignment effects. The degree of optical resonator immunity to phase distortions dictates the net pointing stability achieved.     

Femtosecond pulse compression based on second harmonic generation from a frequency chirped pulse

A 49 fs pulse at the wavelength of 800 nm was converted to a 26 fs pulse at the wavelength of 400 nm by temporal stretching (frequency chirping) and second harmonic generation from a chirped pulse with subsequent compression. The energy conversion efficiency of 35% was achieved.     

Temperature sensitivity of long period fiber grating in SMF-28 fiber

In this paper we have presented long period fiber grating (LPFG) as temperature sensor. Temperature based sensors have found a number of applications in commercial and industrial fields. In LPFG based temperature sensors, they respond to shift in various peak resonant wavelengths corresponding to various attenuation bands of the transmission spectrum. Temperature effect on the various attenuation bands of a LPFG have been investigated to create a highly sensitive measurement device. The temperature sensitivities of various attenuation bands of a LPFG over the wavelength region of 1.1–1.7 μm, for a grating period of 280 μm period, are obtained by monitoring the wavelength shift of each peak resonant wavelength with temperature increment of 20 °C, ranging from 0 °C to 100 °C.     

Multi-wavelength generation of an extremely narrow pulse using a ring resonator system for bio-cells microscopy

We propose a new system of an extremely narrow light pulse generation for optical microscopy applications using a nonlinear ring resonator system. The system consists of one nano and three micro-optical ring resonators, which can be used to generate the 50 fm (10⁻¹⁵ m) optical spectral width at the broad wavelength spectrum. By using a soliton pulse with a pulse width of 50 ps, peak power of 1 W, center wavelength at 550 nm, and after the soliton pulse is launched into the first ring device, the chaotic pulses are generated within the first ring. The chaotic filtering behaviors are performed by using the second and the third ring devices, whereas the extremely short pulse, i.e. narrow spectral width, can be generated by using the extended nano-ring device. The broad spectrum of the harmonic waves is generated and filtered, which is of use in optical tomography. Results obtained have shown that the generation of the broad spectrum of short pulse with width 100 fm and peak power 60 mW is achieved. The possibility of using such a system for nondestructive bio-cells microscopy, for visualizing bio-cells and for bio-cells tomography is also discussed in detail.     

Tunable optical filter based on Sagnac phase-shift using single optical ring resonator

In this paper, a single optical ring resonator connected to a Sagnac loop is used to demonstrate theoretically a novel narrow band optical filter response that is based on Sagnac phase-shift Δφ. The given filter structure permits the Sagnac rotation to control the filter response. It is shown that by changing the Sagnac rotation rate, we can tune the filter response for desired bandwidths. To increase the wavelength selectivity of the filter, the Sagnac phase-shift should be as small as possible that is limited by the loop length. For Δφ=0.1 rad, the obtained FWHM is 2.63 MHz for tuning loop length of 2 m. The simulation response agrees fairly with the recently reported experimental result.     

High performance wavelength-swept laser with mode-locking technique for optical coherence tomography

We demonstrate a Fourier-domain mode-locked wavelength-swept laser that uses a polygon-based narrowband optical scanning filter and a high-efficiency semiconductor optical amplifier. Peak and average output powers of 98 mW and 71 mW have been achieved, respectively, without an external amplifier, while the wavelength was swept continuously from 1247 nm to 1360 nm. A unidirectional wavelength sweeping rate of 7452 nm/ms (65.95 kHz repetition rate) was achieved by using a 72 facet polygon scanner with a rotation rate of 916 revolutions per second. The instantaneous linewidth of this laser is 0.09 nm, which corresponds to a coherence length of 16 mm. This laser is most suitable for optical coherence tomography applications.