NOVEL OPTICAL-FIBER MICRORESONATOR INTERFACING TECHNOLOGY

A novel technology for interfacing optical fibre to silicon microresonators is described. Light is coupled from a fibre to a resonator via a 45-degrees angled mirror face, which reflects the light through 90-degrees. The fibre is held in a V-groove which is photolithographically defined with the angled face. The whole structure is defined in silicon using anisotropic etching by KOH. Both an interface structure (consisting of a V-groove and angled face) and a silicon microresonator may be fabricated as an integral unit. One such device has been tested under soft vacuum conditions using optical drive and detection. At a pressure of 7 x 10(-2) mbar, the device is observed to resonate at just under 180 kHz with a Q factor of over 32 000. Advantages include: self-alignment of components on assembly, batch fabrication and compatibility with standard silicon processing. The technology may find wider applications, e.g., production of pigtailed lasers and light-emitting diodes.