Monolithic whispering-gallery mode resonators with vertically coupled integrated bus waveguides

TL;DR

This paper presents a CMOS-compatible silicon microresonator system with vertical coupling, enabling wafer-scale fabrication and precise mode control, advancing integrated photonic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a fully integrated, wafer-scale fabrication of vertically coupled silicon microresonators with nanometer control of coupling distances.

Findings

High optical quality achieved through planarization

Successful wafer-scale fabrication of suspended resonators

Precise mode excitation via nanometer coupling control

Abstract

We report on the realization and optical characterization of a CMOS-compatible silicon-based microresonator/waveguide coupled system, fully integrated on a silicon chip. The device uses a vertical coupling scheme between the resonator and a buried strip waveguide. We demonstrate that its high optical quality follows from the accurate planarization of the waveguide topography. More importantly, we demonstrate a wafer-scale mass fabrication of freestanding planar resonators suspended in air and coupled to the integrated bus waveguides. A nanometer control of the coupling distances allows for a precise and selective excitation of different mode families of the resonator. This opens the door for the realization of stable all-integrated complex resonator systems for optomechanical and metrological applications, with the potential to substitute the nowadays intensive use of complicated fiber-taper coupling schemes.