Method for Tuning One Or More Resonator(S)
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(19) TZZ¥Z ¥_T (11) EP 3 067 723 A1 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION (43) Date of publication: (51) Int Cl.: 14.09.2016 Bulletin 2016/37 G02B 6/12 (2006.01) G02B 6/136 (2006.01) G02B 6/293 (2006.01) (21) Application number: 15290070.0 (22) Date of filing: 13.03.2015 (84) Designated Contracting States: (72) Inventors: AL AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB • Favero, Ivan GR HR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC MK MT NL NO 75012 Paris (FR) PL PT RO RS SE SI SK SM TR • Baker, Christopher Designated Extension States: 75008 Paris (FR) BA ME • Gil Santos, Eduardo Designated Validation States: 75015 Paris (FR) MA (74) Representative: Regimbeau (71) Applicants: 20, rue de Chazelles • Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 75847 Paris Cedex 17 (FR) 75013 Paris (FR) • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 75016 Paris (FR) (54) Method for tuning one or more resonator(s) (57) The invention concerns a method for tuning at length, into the resonator, a targeted resonance wavelength at least one micro so that the injected light resonates within the resonator and/or nanophotonic resonator, and triggers a photo-electrochemical etching process en- the resonator having dimensions defining resonance abled by the surrounding fluid containing ions, said etch- wavelength of said resonator, the resonator being im- ing process being enhanced by the optical resonance mersed in a fluid containing ions so that the resonator is which amplifies light intensity in the photonic resonator, surrounded by said fluid, the etching decreasing dimensions of the photonic res- wherein the method comprises a step of injecting light, onator, hereby lowering and tuning the resonance wave- having a light wavelength equal to the resonance wave- length of the photonic resonator. EP 3 067 723 A1 Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR) 1 EP 3 067 723 A1 2 Description [0004] Several techniques have been developed in the past years in order to tune and control the resonance of FIELD OF THE INVENTION the resonators. We present below an exhaustive over- view of the state of art: [0001] The invention relates to the field of micro- and 5 nano-photonic resonators and in particular to the tuning - K. Srinivasan and 0. Painter, "Optical fiber taper cou- of such resonators to a desired wavelength. pling and high resolution wavelength tuning of micro- Optical resonators, which are part of a photonic device, disk resonators at cryogenic temperatures", Applied generally consist in a cavity in which light can enter and physics letters, vol. 90, no. 3, p. 031114, 2007. resonate, hereby amplifying the signal. 10 In this document, nitrogen is deposited on the optical resonator to shift its resonance wavelength. PRIOR ART Such a technique is non-permanent and requires the sample to be in high-vacuum and at cryogenic tem- [0002] Micro- and nanoresonators are small devices, perature. which are difficult to build with a high precision. Industrials 15 have developed clean room fabrication techniques (such - Reversible tuning of photonic crystal cavities using as photolithography and plasma etching) that typically photochromic thin films. D. Sridharan, E. Waks, G. result in a precision no better than a few nanometers. Solomon, and J. T. Fourkas, "Reversible tuning of These reproducibility constraints due to the manufactur- photonic crystal cavities using photochromic thin ing-relatedimprecisions ultimately affect theultimate res- 20 films", Applied Physics Letters, vol. 96, no. 15, p. onance wavelength of the fabricated optical resonators. 153303, 2010. As a result, fabricating several high Q, wavelength-sized In this document, a thin photochromic layer is de- optical resonators sharing exactly the same resonance posited on the resonator. wavelength is not currently achievable, even through This technique has a limited tuning range, the layer state-of-the art fabrication means. 25 can degrade optical and mechanical properties of [0003] Those resonators have several applications, ei- the device, and is non-applicable for a plurality of ther in academic research or in industrial development resonators. for improved technology. Light-matter interaction (lasers, cavity electrodynamics, - M. Shainline, G. Fernandes, Z. Liu, and J. Xu, "Broad optomechanics, non-linear optics, ...) is a major topic of 30 tuning of whispering-gallery modes in silicon micro- current research. Obtaining optical resonators with pre- disks", Optics express, vol. 18, no. 14, pp. cise resonance frequencies, which can couple to given 14345-14352, 2010. atomic transitions or molecular excitations is of interest. In this document, a tension is applied to the optical Moreover, arrays of resonators and their collective be- resonator, thereby changing its refractive index havior are also a subject of interest. 35 (through the electro-optic effect) and thus its reso- Miniaturized optical resonators are currently the focus of nance frequency. Such a technique requires electric important research and development, with applications tuning with metallic electrodes in contact with the in optical delays, optical routing with micro-nanoscale de- resonator, which degrade the optical properties and vices, photonic force and gas sensing, optical gyro- is non-scalable. scopes, Silicon On Insulator optical devices, semicon- 40 ductor lasers, optical computers, optical metamaterials. - K. Piegdon, M. Lexow, G. Grundmeier, H.-S. Kitze- Resonators can be also used as: row, K. Parschke, D. Mergel, D. Reuter, A. Wieck, and C. Meier, "All-optical tenability of microdisk la- - Sensors,as shown indocument US 2014/03211502, sers via photo-adressable polyelectrolyte function- where acquiring the wavelength of the resonator en- 45 alization", Optics express, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. ables to obtain the temperature. In this case, the best 6060-6067, 2012. the resonance wavelength control, the more accu- In this document, the technique is applied to the rate the obtained temperature value, whole sample,therefore showing alack ofselectivity. - Display devices, as show in document EP 1 585 087, The precision is of the order of nanometers and the where light is guided in a plane comprising fluoro- 50 reproducibility has not been achieved. phores which reemit light when excited. As fluoro- phores are highly selective optically, the resonance - W. von Klitzing, R. Long, V. S. Ilchenko, J. Hare, and wavelength must be well known, V. Lefèvre-Seguin, "Frequency tuning of the whis- - Transistors for logical connections in order to pering-gallery modes of silica microspheres for cav- achieve photonic bits process for optical computers. 55 ity quantum electro- dynamics and spectroscopy", The development of such computers where informa- Optics letters, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 166-168, 2001. tion is transmitted through photons instead of elec- In this document, a mechanical action is exerted on trons is accelerating in the silicon industry. the resonator, consisting in compressing and 2 3 EP 3 067 723 A1 4 stretching a microsphere. - Tune a single optical resonator to a targeted wave- Such a technique is non-scalable and non-compat- length, ible with micro- and nano-photonic devices, is non- - Tune multiple resonators to a common targeted permanent and is technically impractical. wavelength. 5 - N. Niu, T.-L. Liu, I. Aharonovich, K. J. Russell, A. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Woolf, T. C. Sadler, H. A. El-Ella, M. J. Kappers, R. A. Oliver, and E. L. Hu, "A full free spectral range [0006] It is an object of the invention to propose an tuning of pin doped gallium nitride microdisk cavity", improved method for tuning a resonator at a targeted Applied Physics Letters, vol. 101, no. 16, p. 161105, 10 resonance wavelength at least one micro and/or nano- 2012. photonic resonator, the resonator having dimensions de- In this document, the whole sample containing res- fining resonance wavelength of said resonator, the res- onators is tuned with photoelectrical etching by UV onator being immersed in a fluid containing ions so that light. The UV light is absorbed by the whole sample. the resonator is surrounded by said fluid, wherein the Such a technique lacks spectral precision, is not site- 15 method comprises a step of injecting light, having a light specific, is non-scalable to a large number of reso- wavelength equal to the resonance wavelength, into the nators, and does not allow real time in-situ monitor- resonator, so that the injected light resonates within the ing of the resonance wavelength. resonator and triggers a photo-electrochemical etching process enabled by the surrounding fluid containing ions, - Y. Shen, I. B. Divliansky, D. N. Basov, and 20S. said etching process being enhanced by the optical res- Mookherjea, "Electric-field-driven nano-oxidation onance which amplifies light intensity in the photonic res- trimming of silicon microrings and interferometers", onator, the etching decreasing dimensions of the phot- Optics letters, vol. 36, no. 14, pp. 2668-2670, 2011. onic resonator, hereby lowering and tuning the reso- In this document, oxidation through peak effect is nance wavelength of the photonic resonator. applied, which changes the resonance wavelength 25 [0007] The method of the invention may comprise the of the resonator through refractive index changes in following features in combination or not. The photonic the resonator material. resonator has a bandgap wavelength set by its constitu- Such a technique is slow, non-scalable to arrays of tive material and the wavelength of the injected light is resonators, andhas not beenproven to be applicable above the resonator bandgap wavelength. to nano-resonators with the same accuracy. 30 The injected light is monochromatic. - M. Zhang, G. S. Wiederhecker, S. Manipatruni, A. The method comprises the steps of: Barnard, P. McEuen and M. Lipson, "Synchroniza- tion of micromechanical oscillators using light", - Starting the step of injecting the light, Physical review letters, vol. 109, no. 23, p. 233906, 35 - Adjusting the light wavelength of the injected 2012. light so as to attain the resonance wavelength In this document, a laser light is used to heat a res- of the resonator, onator to change its resonance wavelength.