Silicon Photonics Research in Hong Kong: Microresonator Devices and Optical Nonlinearities

In this review paper we showcase recent activities on silicon photonics science and technology research in Hong Kong regarding two important topical areas — microresonator devices and optical nonlinearities. Our work on silicon microresonator filters, switches and modulators have shown promise for the nascent development of on-chip optoelectronic signal processing systems, while our studies on optical nonlinearities have contributed to basic understanding of silicon-based optically-pumped light sources and helium-implanted detectors. Here, we review our various passive and electro-optic active microresonator devices including (i) cascaded microring resonator cross-connect filters, (ii) NRZ-to-PRZ data format converters using a microring resonator notch filter, (iii) GHz-speed carrier-injection-based microring resonator modulators and 0.5-GHz-speed carrier-injection-based microdisk resonator modulators, and (iv) electrically reconfigurable microring resonator add-drop filters and electro-optic logic switches using interferometric resonance control. On the nonlinear waveguide front, we review the main nonlinear optical effects in silicon, and show that even at fairly modest average powers two-photon absorption and the accompanied free-carrier linear absorption could lead to optical limiting and a dramatic reduction in the effective lengths of nonlinear devices. key words: silicon microresonator, microring resonator, microdisk resonator, cross-connect filter, format converter, silicon modulator, reconfigurable add-drop filter, electro-optic logic switch, free-carrier plasma dispersion, interferometric resonance control, two-photon absorption, optical limiting, silicon amplifier, wavelength conversion, helium implantation