Facilities

We present an on-chip wavelength reference with a partial drop ring resonator and germanium photodetector. This approach can be used in ring-resonator-based wavelength-selective switches where absolute wavelength alignment is required. We use the temperature dependence of heater resistance as a temperature sensor. Additionally, we discuss locking speed, statistical variation of heater resistances, and tuning speed of the switches.

Chip scale optical frequency combs using microresonators can enable a wide variety of applications from metrology to telecommunications. While tremendous progress has been made in miniaturizing the optical components, sources of variability and drift due to ambient conditions often limit their performance. We describe the design and implementation of a mixed-signal controller for optoelectronic frequency synthesis with notable frequency stability by locking it to an RF reference.