Photonic Integrated Filter With Widely Tunable Bandwidth

Author

Orlandi, P. ; Morichetti, Francesco ; Strain, Michael J. ; Sorel, Marc ; Bassi, Paras ; Melloni, A.

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Ing. dell´Energia Elettr. e dell´Inf., Univ. di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

Volume

32

Issue

5

fYear

2014

fDate

1-Mar-14

Firstpage

897

Lastpage

907

Abstract

We present a comprehensive design, fabrication, and characterization analysis of compact silicon-on-insulator bandpass filters with widely tunable bandwidth. The filter architecture is based on an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer loaded with a pair of ring resonators. A wide bandwidth tunability (from 10% to 90% FSR) can be achieved by controlling the resonant frequency of the rings while preserving a good filter off-band rejection. Design rules are provided that take into account fabrication tolerances as well as losses. Furthermore, the use of tunable couplers allows a more flexible shaping of the spectral response of the filter. The sensitivity with respect to nonlinear effects is carefully investigated. Operation over a wavelength spectrum of 20 nm is demonstrated, making the device suitable for channel subset selection in WDM systems, reconfigurable filters for gridless networking and adaptive filtering of signals.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; adaptive filters; band-pass filters; integrated optics; nonlinear optics; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical filters; optical losses; optical resonators; optical tuning; optical waveguide components; silicon-on-insulator; wavelength division multiplexing; FSR; Si; WDM systems; adaptive signal filtering; channel subset selection; characterization analysis; compact silicon-on-insulator bandpass filters; comprehensive design; design rules; fabrication tolerances; filter architecture; filter off-band rejection; filter sensitivity; filter spectral response; flexible shaping; gridless networking; nonlinear effects; optical losses; photonic integrated filter; reconfigurable filters; ring resonant frequency; ring resonator; tunable couplers; unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer; wavelength 20 nm; wavelength spectrum; wide bandwidth tunability; Bandwidth; Couplers; Couplings; Delays; Fabrication; Optical filters; Shape; Bandpass filters; integrated optics; optical waveguide components; silicon on insulator technology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2013.2294345

Filename

6679232