Propagation of short lightpulses in microring resonators: ballistic transport versus interference in the frequency domain

TL;DR

This paper investigates how short light pulses propagate in microring resonators, revealing conditions under which ballistic transport or interference dominate, and provides a criterion for error-free data transmission based on measurement setup and physical principles.

Contribution

It offers a theoretical and experimental analysis of pulse propagation in microresonators, linking observed phenomena to measurement configurations and fundamental quantum limits.

Findings

Ballistic transport or interference observed depending on setup

A criterion for maximum error-free bitrate in microresonators

Analysis based on characteristic time scales and Heisenberg's principle

Abstract

The propagation of short lightpulses in waveguiding structures with optical feedback, in our case optical microresonators, has been studied theoretically and experimentally. It appears that, dependent on the measurement set-up, ballistic transport or interference in the time domain of fs and ps laser pulses can be observed. The experiments are analyzed in terms of characteristic time scales of the source, the waveguide device and the detector arrangement and are related to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Based on this analysis a criterion is given for the upper bitrate for error free data transmission through optical microresonators.