Ultra-compact polymer and silicon modulator design based on photonic crystal ring resonators

Ultra-small silicon-based photonic-crystal ring resonators (PCRRs), both passive and active, will be key contributors to the emerging low-power nanophotonic technology. We have modeled and simulated the diameter-dependent loss, Q, and FSR of such PCRRs and find a 0.02 dB "intrinsic" loss that is independent of diameter, unlike the ~1/D loss of micro-strip resonators. Close to 100% drop efficiency at the drop channel of 1557.5nm was obtained by design with a high spectral selectivity of Q greater than 1319 in the single-ring PCRR-based add-drop filters with ring radius of 1.2 μm. Ultra-compact polymer modulators were proposed and simulated, based on the hybrid integration of functional polymer materials with Si based PCRRs, which can lead to high speed modulators, suitable for photonic integration and RF photonics.