Mirror cavity MMI coupled photonic wire resonator in SOI

We propose a new waveguide resonator device with a mirror cavity and a multimode interference (MMI) coupler. We present simulation results for the silicon wire MMI coupler with suppressed reflections and its use as a coupling element in the resonator cavity, built on the silicon-on-insulator waveguide platform. Tapering structures used in the reflection suppression were optimized, and the wavelength dependency of a conventional MMI was compared to that of the MMI with reflection suppression. Equations relating the power transfer of the two-mirror MMI-coupled resonator and quality factor were derived. The device was also studied using finite difference time domain simulation by both pulse and continuous wave excitation. The resonator does not require bend waveguides, it has the advantages of having no bend loss and a compact layout. The resonator device has a very small footprint of 3 mum x 30 mum, and a quality factor of 516.