Piecewise linear integrated optical device as an optical isolator using two-port nonlinear ring resonators

A nonlinear (piecewise linear) optical transfer function for optical applications generally and isolator especially is introduced and a realization method for the introduced block based on array of two-port nonlinear ring resonators is proposed. The effect of system parameters on the transfer function is studied. The characteristics of the introduced nonlinear device such as the threshold value and the slope of linear part can be controlled using the coupling coefficients and ring lengths. We show that using our proposed idea, easily more than 30-dB isolation well over 3 THz can be obtained only with similar two rings. Also, insertion loss less than 1 dB can be obtained using optical amplifier between rings. The proposed circuit is compact (0.2 mm(2)) and easily can be integrated with semiconductor lasers as well as other integrated devices and systems. Finally, the analytical result for approximation of the threshold and slope of linear part is presented. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.