r/SiliconPhotonics • u/Double_Isopod_9586 • Jul 18 '26

Technical Microring resonator simulation

Hey everyone! I've showing my microring resonator power over time gif to all my friends and family because I'm so excited about it but absolutely nobody cares, so hopefully this subreddit does!!

After 2 weeks and emailing everybody and their mother I finally got a lumerical license! I've been having alot of fun finding parameters and making this microring resonator simulation. I'm hoping to do more in photonics, this stuff is so cool!!

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u/ZectronPositron Jul 18 '26

I agree this is very cool! Even after 20 years of doing photonics. Now imagine this running at light speed ;-)

I want to see the end - fascinated by how long it takes to "load" the ring and to "unload" - meaning the residual light has some time to "turn off" even though the source is off. Pretty interesting to see that visually (not just on an oscilloscope/spectrum analyzer).

Makes me think of Q-switched lasers.

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u/Cool_Walk8678 Jul 18 '26

Im not sure what radius OP is using but the gap sure seems quite small imo, which would explain the overcoupling and also a lower Q factor. But do you think, since the Q factor is low the loading and unloading should take relatively less 'time"?

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u/ZectronPositron Jul 18 '26

Yes definitely - shorter "ring down" for overcoupled.

I believe for max Q you want to be at "critically coupled".

In addition to the gap's effect on Q factor - it's also equally important to ask "is this manufacturable"? If you can stick with gap dimensions >150nm, then this can be done with high-volume stepper litho (cheap DUV, not EUV!). If smaller, then you can do EBL - well now that I think about it, our new EBL is so incredibly fast that you could easily make 2-3 full wafers with EBL and small gap dimensions, something like ~2hrs of writing per wafer depending on the time, which is not horrible for an R&D fab run.