UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA

Brief Description

A nonreciprocal ring resonator implemented in a ring isolator, which has the main advantages of miniaturization and integration with other optoelectronic devices. The isolator increases stability and reduces noise in optoelectronic circuits due to a high isolation ratio, which is measured at 9 dB in 1550 nm regime.

Background

The need for higher capacity and lower cost optical networks is driving the development of photonic integrated circuits with various functions, such as lasing, modulation, switching, splitting, and detection. Optical isolation is especially important to reduce unwanted optical reflection back to semiconductor lasers, but is not yet a part of these integrated functions since conventional optical isolators are bulky and difficult to integrate.

Description

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have developed the first nonreciprocal ring resonator and implemented it in a ring isolator, which has the main advantages of miniaturization and integration with other optoelectronic devices. The isolator increases stability and reduces noise in optoelectronic circuits due to a high isolation ratio, which is measured at 9 dB in 1550 nm regime. It also has a low insertion loss, making for efficient signal propagation. The ring isolator can potentially be configured as an optical circulator, tunable optical filter, or bidirectional wavelength-selective isolator.

Advantages

• Can be integrated with other optoelectronic devices

• Increased stability and reduced noise in optoelectronic circuits due to high isolation ratio (9 dB isolation ratio achieved in 1550 nm regime) 

• Efficient due to low insertion loss

Applications

• Optical Isolators

• Optical Circulators

• Tunable Optical Filters

• Bidirectional Wavelength-Selective Isolators  

This technology is available for licensing. Patent Pending.

Patent Status

Inventors

• Bowers, John E.
• Kroemer, Herbert
• Tien, M C.

Other Information

Contact

Shaun R. Juncal / juncal@tia.ucsb.edu / tel: View Phone Number. Please reference Tech ID #21295.

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