Integrated high roll-off optical filter
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of optical fiber communication, in particular to an integrated high-roll-off optical filter.
Background
Photons have great advantages as information carriers, such as mutual interference resistance, large transmission bandwidth, high speed, electromagnetic interference resistance and the like, and are widely applied to the technical field of long-distance optical fiber communication. The optical filter is crucial to routing in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) network applications, and can select signals of different frequencies by using the optical filter to realize functions such as demultiplexing. Compared with the traditional electronic technology, the microwave signal with high frequency bandwidth can be directly filtered, and the method has great significance in the high-level application aspects of broadband access, quantum communication, laser radar and astronomical systems. The selectivity of the target frequency band is an important index of an optical filter applied to microwave photon signal processing, which requires that the optical filter has a high roll-off rate and a narrower passband bandwidth, and the smaller the proportion of the passband bandwidth in a free spectral region, the stronger the selectivity. The optical filter based on integrated photonics is convenient for large-scale integration, and meanwhile, a mature semiconductor process processing platform is utilized, so that large-scale low-cost mass production can be realized. Common high roll-off rate narrowband optical filters often adopt structures such as Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) and Mach-Zehnder (MZ, Mach-Zehnder), but the above schemes have the problems of large loss, large volume, high cost, poor stability, difficult adjustment and control and the like.
Disclosure of Invention
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an integrated high roll-off optical filter, which is aimed at least partially solving at least one of the above-mentioned problems.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an integrated optical filter comprising:
an input optical waveguide 100 for inputting a broadband optical signal to be processed;
the high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 comprises a first-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and a second-order micro-ring optical filter 202, each of the high-order micro-ring optical filters 201 and 202 comprises a high-order micro-ring resonant cavity and an input end straight waveguide and a download end straight waveguide adjacent to the high-order micro-ring resonant cavity, after a broadband optical signal enters the input end of the high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and 202, namely the input end straight waveguide, when a broadband optical signal waveband meets the resonance condition of the high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and 202 micro-ring resonant cavity, the broadband optical signal waveband is coupled into the download end straight waveguide of the high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and 202 through the high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and 202 and is output from the download end of the high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and 202, namely the output end of the download end straight waveguide, while the broadband optical signal waveband not meeting the resonance condition of the high-order micro-ring resonant cavity is retained, 202, i.e. the straight-through end of the input-end straight waveguide, so as to realize filtering of the input broadband optical signal;
an intermediate optical waveguide 300 including a first intermediate optical waveguide 301 and a second intermediate optical waveguide 302 for transmitting a broadband optical signal between different high-order micro-ring optical filters; the high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 and the intermediate optical waveguide 300 are arranged in a staggered manner, and specifically include: the input end straight waveguide of the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 comprises a left end and a right end which are respectively an access end and a through end, wherein the access end is connected with the input optical waveguide 100, and the through end is connected with one end of the first intermediate optical waveguide 301; the output end straight waveguide of the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 comprises an upper end and a lower end, the upper end is connected with the other end of the first middle optical waveguide 301, the lower end is connected with one end of the second middle optical waveguide 302, and the other end of the second middle optical waveguide 302 is connected with the input end of the input end straight waveguide of the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202;
and an output optical waveguide 400 connected to the download end of the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202, and configured to output the broadband optical signal downloaded by the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202, so as to complete the filtering function of the integrated optical filter.
The high-order microring resonators in the high-order microring optical filter 200 are all in a series structure, and the high-order microring optical filter 200 includes at least two high-order microring resonators in the same number.
The first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 has a symmetrical structure, the distances between micro-rings in the internal high-order micro-ring resonator are equal, and the distances between the internal high-order micro-ring resonator and two surrounding straight waveguides are also equal, so that two paths of light waves at the straight-through end and the download end have the same flat-top filtering curve shape and the same high-order central wavelength under the two filtering actions in the high-order micro-ring filter.
Wherein, the micro-ring radius, the waveguide width and the waveguide thickness of the micro-ring resonators inside the second-stage micro-ring filter 202 and the first-stage high-order micro-ring filter 201 are kept consistent.
The distance between the micro-ring resonator in the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202 and the two straight waveguides is greater than the distance between the micro-ring resonator in the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and the two straight waveguides.
After the input broadband optical signal passes through the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201, the through end and the download end respectively perform two identical filtering processes, and the result of the two filtering superpositions generates a spectrum similar to electromagnetic induction transparency.
The central wavelength of the filter curve of the high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 can be tuned independently, so that the central wavelength of the integrated optical filter can be tuned.
The high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 can independently tune the central wavelength of the filter curve thereof through a thermo-optic effect or an electro-optic effect.
The high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 can be manufactured on a lithium niobate, silicon dioxide, indium phosphide, or gallium arsenide platform by a semiconductor process.
An optical communication device for optical filtering using an integrated optical filter as described above.
Based on the technical scheme, compared with the prior art, the integrated high roll-off optical filter has at least one of the following beneficial effects:
after an input optical signal of the filter passes through the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter, the through end and the download end respectively carry out twice identical filtering processes, and a result of twice filtering superposition generates an electromagnetic induction transparent spectrum, so that the extinction ratio of a filtering curve is increased by two times, and the roll-off rate of a spectral line is improved.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an integrated high roll-off optical filter according to the present invention, using an odd number of micro-ring cascaded high-order micro-ring resonators;
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an integrated high roll-off optical filter according to the present invention with an even number of micro-ring cascaded high-order micro-ring resonators;
fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a high-order micro-ring optical filter and spectral lines at the download end and the through end thereof in odd and even numbers of micro-ring cascades, wherein (a) is the structure of a first-order micro-ring optical filter 201 in odd numbers of micro-ring cascades, (b) is the structure of a second-order micro-ring optical filter 202 in even numbers of micro-ring cascades, and (c) is a schematic diagram of the filtering curves at the through end and the download end;
fig. 4 is a combined filtering curve of a download end and a through end of a first-stage and a second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filters in a device working state under a high-order micro-ring resonator adopting odd number of micro-ring cascades, wherein (a) is the combined filtering curve of the through end, and (b) is the combined filtering curve of the download end;
fig. 5 is a combined filter curve of a download end and a through end of a first-stage and a second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filters in a device working state under a high-order micro-ring resonator adopting an even number of micro-ring cascades, wherein (a) is the combined filter curve of the through end, and (b) is the combined filter curve of the download end;
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the filtering curves of each stage of the device in the operating state, wherein (a) is the combined filtering curve of the first and second stage high-order micro-ring optical filters, and the filtering spectrum of the combined filtering curve includes a narrow peak in the groove; (b) a filter curve of a third-level high-order micro-ring optical filter is obtained; (c) the filter curve of the output end of the integrated optical filter formed by cascading the three-level high-order micro-ring optical filters is shown.
In the above drawings, the reference numerals have the following meanings:
100-input optical waveguide
200-high order micro-ring optical filter
201-first order micro-ring optical filter 202-second order micro-ring optical filter
300-intermediate optical waveguide
301-first intermediate optical waveguide 302-second intermediate optical waveguide
400-output optical waveguide
Detailed Description
In order that the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent, the present invention will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with the following specific embodiments.
Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the present invention discloses an integrated high roll-off optical filter, including:
the optical waveguide 100 is used for inputting a broadband optical signal to be processed.
The high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 comprises a first-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and a second-order micro-ring optical filter 202, wherein each high-order micro-ring optical filter consists of a high-order micro-ring resonator and two straight waveguides close to the high-order micro-ring resonator and is used for filtering a broadband optical signal input into the straight waveguides, after the optical signal enters a certain straight waveguide, a wave band meeting the high-order micro-ring resonance condition is coupled to a downloading end of another straight waveguide through a high-order micro-ring, and a wave band not meeting the high-order micro-ring resonance condition is reserved at a straight end of the original straight waveguide.
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a high-order micro-ring optical filter and spectral lines at a download end and a through end thereof under odd and even numbers of micro-ring cascades, wherein fig. 3(a) is a structure of a first-order micro-ring optical filter 201 under odd numbers of micro-ring cascades, fig. 3(b) is a structure of a second-order micro-ring optical filter 202 under even numbers of micro-ring cascades, and fig. 3(c) is a schematic diagram of a filtering curve at the through end and the download end;
it can be seen that the only difference between the high-order micro-ring optical filters in the odd-numbered micro-ring cascade and the even-numbered micro-ring cascade is that the directions of the downloading terminals are different, but the filtering curves of the downloading terminals are identical, so that two different integrated high-roll-off optical filter structures shown in fig. 1 and 2 can be caused, but the working principles of the two structures and the filtering results are completely equivalent.
The intermediate optical waveguide 300 includes a first intermediate optical waveguide 301 and a second intermediate optical waveguide 302 for transmitting signal light between different high-order micro-ring optical filters.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the high-order microring resonators in the high-order microring optical filter 200 all adopt a series structure, and the number of microrings included in the high-order microring resonators is the same, and is at least two; the distances between the micro-rings in the high-order micro-ring resonator in the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter are equal, and the distances between the high-order micro-ring resonator and two sections of surrounding straight waveguides are also equal; the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202 and the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 have design parameters which are not completely the same, the micro-ring radius, the waveguide width and the waveguide thickness of the micro-ring resonators in the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202 are kept consistent, but the distance between the micro-ring resonators in the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202 and the two sections of straight waveguides is larger than the distance between the micro-ring resonators in the first-stage micro-ring optical filter 201 and the two sections of straight waveguides.
The high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 is arranged in a staggered manner with the intermediate optical waveguide 300, the input optical waveguide 100 is connected with an input end of a waveguide above the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201, a through end corresponding to the input end is connected with another waveguide of the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 through the intermediate optical waveguide 301, and the waveguide is then connected with the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202 through the intermediate optical waveguide 303.
And the output optical waveguide 400 is configured to output the signal light at the download end of the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202, so as to complete the filtering function of the integrated optical filter.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, after a broadband optical signal to be processed enters an input end of a first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 by using an input optical waveguide 100, a first-pass end of the broadband optical signal successively performs two filtering processes, as shown in fig. 4(a) or fig. 5(a), after entering from a left end of an L1 waveguide, signal light enters an intermediate optical waveguide 301 from a right end of an L1 waveguide through a corresponding first-pass end of the signal light, so as to complete first filtering, and then enters an upper end of an L2 waveguide, and then enters an intermediate optical waveguide 302 from a lower end of an L2 waveguide through a corresponding first-pass end of the signal light, so as to complete second; the process of filtering twice at the downloading end is shown as the processes of first and second in fig. 4(b) or fig. 5(b), after signal light enters from the left end of the L1 waveguide, the signal light enters the intermediate optical waveguide 301 from the upper end of the L2 waveguide through the corresponding straight-through end to complete first filtering, and then enters the right end of the L1 waveguide, the signal light enters the intermediate optical waveguide 302 from the lower end of the L2 waveguide through the corresponding straight-through end to complete second filtering;
the signal light is combined in the middle optical waveguide 302 through the two straight-through end filtering curves and the two downloading end filtering curves after passing through the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201, because the distances between micro-rings in the high-order micro-ring resonator inside the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 are equal, and the distances between the high-order micro-ring resonator inside the first-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 201 and two surrounding straight waveguides are also equal, the two filtering functions of the straight-through end and the downloading end in the high-order micro-ring optical filter are ensured, the two filtering curves have the same shape and the central wavelength of a resonance peak, and the result of the two filtering superposition can generate a spectrum which is similar to an Electromagnetic Induced Transparency (EIT) as shown in fig. 6(a) at the middle optical waveguide 302, and;
finally, the signal light in the intermediate optical waveguide 302 enters the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202, and since the filter curve at the downstream end of the second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filter 202 is as shown in fig. 6(b), the filtering result shown in fig. 6(c) will be generated at the downstream end and output through the output optical waveguide 400.
In summary, the embodiment of the invention obtains a high-performance filtering spectrum with low loss, high quality factor and integrated high roll-off, and completes the filtering function of the integrated optical filter.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the central wavelength of the filter curves of the first and second-stage high-order micro-ring optical filters 201 and 202 can be tuned independently, so that the central wavelength of the high roll-off rate optical filter can be tunable.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the high-order micro-ring optical filter 200 can tune the center wavelength of its filter curve through thermo-optic effect or electro-optic effect.
In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the high-order micro-ring filter 200 may be implemented on a platform of lithium niobate, silicon dioxide, indium phosphide, or gallium arsenide through a semiconductor process.
And the shapes and sizes of the respective components in the drawings do not reflect actual sizes and proportions, but merely illustrate the contents of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, in the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim.
The use of ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," "third," etc., in the specification and claims to modify a corresponding element does not by itself connote any ordinal number of the element or any ordering of one element from another or the order of manufacture, and the use of the ordinal numbers is only used to distinguish one element having a certain name from another element having a same name.
The above-mentioned embodiments are intended to illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention in further detail, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.