Experimental observations of thermo-optical bistability and self-pulsation in silicon microring resonators

Optical bistability and self-pulsation (SP) in silicon microring resonators (MRRs) are experimentally observed. The waveforms and frequencies of SP can be controlled by changing input light power and its wavelength, and the region of SP can be modulated readily by applying a reverse voltage on the PN junction embedded in the MRR. These phenomena are theoretically studied by adopting the coupled-mode theory and linear stability analysis method for differential equations, with theoretical results fitting well with the experimental ones. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America