High-Q and high finesse silicon microring resonator

Abstract

We demonstrate the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a single transverse mode adiabatic microring resonator (MRR) implemented using the silicon-on- insulator (SOI) platform using local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) approach. Following its fabrication, the device was characterized experimentally and an ultrahigh intrinsic Q-factor of ∼2 million with a free spectral range (FSR) of 2 nm was achieved, giving rise to a finesse of ∼1100, the highest demonstrated so far in SOI platform at the telecom band. We have further studied our device to analyze the source of losses that occur in the MRR and to understand the limits of the achievable Q-factor. The surface roughness was quantified using AFM scans and the root mean square roughness was found to be ∼ 0.32±0.03 nm. The nonlinear losses were further examined by coupling different optical power levels into the MRR. Indeed, we could observe that the nonlinear losses become more pronounced at power levels in the range of hundreds of microwatts. The demonstrated approach for constructing high-Q and high finesse MRRs can play a major role in the implementation of devices such as modulators, sensors, filters, frequency combs and devices that are used for quantum applications, e.g., photon pair generation.