Microring-resonator-based four-port optical router for photonic networks-on-chip

We design and fabricate a four-port optical router, which is composed of eight microring-resonator-based switching elements, four optical waveguides and six waveguide crossings. The extinction ratio is about 13 dB for the through port and larger than 30 dB for the drop port. The crosstalk of the measured optical links is less than -13 dB. The average tuning power consumption is about 10.37 mW and the tuning efficiency is 5.398 mW/nm. The routing functionality and optical signal integrity are verified by transmitting a 12.5 Gb/s PRBS optical signal. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America