Elastic Polarization Converter Based on Dual Microring Resonators

A proposal for a silicon-based elastic polarization converter consisting of dual microring resonators and a phase shifter is presented and theoretically investigated. By utilizing a microring resonator for polarization splitting, a phase shifter for phase controlling, and another microring resonator for TE- and TM-polarized light combination, this proposed polarization converter can realize polarization conversions between any two linear, circular, and elliptic polarization states. The proposed scheme is also designed and numerically studied by performing the 3-D full vectorial film mode matching method and coupled mode theory. Simulation results show that the capacity factor of polarization conversion is wavelength-dependent and can be high up to 1 when the polarization converter operates at the resonance condition of the microring resonators. Finally, the linear-circular polarization conversion performances are also analyzed.