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Takasumi Tanabe

Publications and source records attributed to Takasumi Tanabe.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Coupling of a whispering gallery mode to a silicon chip with photonic crystal

We demonstrate the efficient coupling (99.5%) of a silica whispering gallery mode microresonator directly with a silicon chip by using a silicon photonic crystal waveguide as a coupler. The efficient coupling is attributed to the small effective refractive index difference between the two devices. The large group index of the photonic crystal waveguide mode also contributes to the efficient coupling. A coupling Q of 2.68*10^6 is obtained, which allows us to achieve the critical coupling of a silica whispering gallery mode with an intrinsic Q of close to 10^7 with a Si chip.

physics.optics↗

Brillouin lasing in coupled silica toroid microcavities

We demonstrate stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) lasing in a strongly coupled microcavity system. By coupling two silica toroid microcavities, we achieve large mode splitting of 11 GHz, whose frequency separation matches the Brillouin frequency shift of silica. The SBS light is resonantly amplified by pumping at the higher frequency side of the supermode splitting resonance. Since the mode splitting is adjusted by changing the gap distance between the two cavities, our system does not require precise control of a mm-sized cavity diameter to match the free-spectral spacing with the Brillouin frequency shift. It also allows us to use a small cavity, hence our system has the potential to achieve the lasing threshold at a very low power.

physics.optics↗

Broadband gain induced Raman comb formation in a silica microresonator

A high-Q silica whispering-gallery mode microresonator is an attractive platform on which to demonstrate a broad and phase-locked Raman comb in various wavelength regimes. Raman combs can be used for applications such as compact pulse laser sources, sensors, optical clocks, and coherence tomography. However, the formation dynamics of a Raman comb has not been well exploited. Here we study the dynamics of the Raman comb formation in silica rod microresonators, which have cavity free spectral ranges in microwave rates. We generated a Raman comb with a smooth spectral envelope and also observed the transition between two Raman combs located at different center wavelengths. The transition behavior was obtained when we changed the pump detuning and the coupling strength between the microresonator and fiber. We also explain these phenomena by using a simple model based on coupled mode equations.

physics.optics↗

Transition between Kerr comb and stimulated Raman comb in a silica whispering gallery mode microcavity

We theoretically and experimentally investigated the transition between modulation instability and Raman gain in a small silica microcavity with a large free-spectral range (FSR), which reveals that we can selectively switch from a four-wave mixing dominant state to a stimulated Raman scattering dominant state. Both the theoretical analysis and the experiment show that a Raman-dominant region is present between transitions of Kerr combs with different free-spectral range spacings. We can obtain a stable Kerr comb and a stable Raman state selectively by changing the driving power, coupling between the cavity and the waveguide, and laser detuning. Such a controllable transition is achieved thanks to the presence of gain competition between modulation instability and Raman gain in silica whispering gallery mode microcavities.

physics.optics↗

The effect on Kerr comb generation in a clockwise and counter-clockwise mode coupled microcavity

We study the impact of inherent mode coupling between clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW) modes on Kerr comb generation in a small whispering-gallery mode microcavity. Our numerical analysis using a coupled Lugiato-Lefever equation reveals the range of the coupling strength in which a soliton pulse can be obtained in the CW direction. It also showed that CCW comb power depends on the coupling strength between the CW and CCW modes. In addition to the simulation, we conducted an experiment to confirm that the power ratio between the CW and CCW comb modes depends on the coupling strength, and the experimental results agree well with the simulation results. This study helps us to understand the relationship between CW and CCW mode coupling and Kerr comb generation, and the effect on soliton formation.

physics.optics↗

Harmonic mode locking in a high-Q whispering gallery mode microcavity

A numerical and experimental study of the generation of harmonic mode locking in a silica toroid microcavity is presented. We use a generalized mean-field Lugiato-Lefever equation and solve it with the split-step Fourier method. We found that stable harmonic mode locking regime can be accessed when we reduce the input power after strong pumping even when we do not carefully adjust the wavelength detuning. This is due to the bistable nature of the nonlinear cavity system. The experiment agrees well with the numerical analysis, where we obtain low-noise Kerr comb spectrum at low longitudinal mode spacing by gradually reducing the pumping input after strong pumping. This finding clarifies the procedure for generating harmonic mode locking in such high-Q microcavity systems.

physics.optics↗

All-optical switching using Kerr effect in a silica toroid microcavity

We demonstrate experimentally an all-optical switching operation using the Kerr effect in a silica toroid microcavity. Thanks to the small mode volume and high quality factor of the silica toroid microcavity, we achieved on-chip optical Kerr switching with an input power of 2 mW. This value is the smallest among all previously reported on-chip optical Kerr switches. We also show that this value can be reduced to a few tens of uW by employing a mode with a Q factor of >2x10^7.

physics.optics↗

High-Q silica zipper cavity for optical radiation pressure driven MOMS switch

We design a silica zipper cavity that has high optical and mechanical Q (quality factor) values and demonstrate numerically the feasibility of a radiation pressure driven micro opto-mechanical system (MOMS) directional switch. The silica zipper cavity has an optical Q of 6.0x10^4 and an effective mode volume Vmode of 0.66λ^3 when the gap between two cavities is 34 nm. We found that this Q/V_mode value is five times higher than can be obtained with a single nanocavity design. The mechanical Q (Q_m) is determined by thermo-elastic damping and is 2.0x10^6 in a vacuum at room temperature. The opto-mechanical coupling rate g_OM is as high as 100 GHz/nm, which allows us to move the directional cavity-waveguide system and switch 1550-nm light with 770-nm light by controlling the radiation pressure.

physics.optics↗

Add-drop system for Kerr bistable memory in silicon nitride microrings

We numerically studied the required conditions for achieving a memory operation based on Kerr bistability in the presence of the thermo-optic effect in silicon nitride microring cavity systems. By comparing a side-coupled system and an add-drop system, we found that the latter is needed to realize obtain Kerr bistable operation. In addition, we show the coupling coefficient range in which the memory operation does not suffer from the thermo-optic effect.

physics.optics↗

Whispering gallery modes in hexagonal microcavities fabricated by crystal growth

We investigated the whispering gallery modes of cavities with a hexagonal cross-section. We found two different modes, namely perturbed and quasi-WGMs, of which the former exhibits the higher Q when the corner radius is large. We studied the dependence of Q on the curvature radius of the polygonal cavities and found that the coupling between the two modes determines the Q of the cavity. In addition we fabricated a cavity by employing laser heated pedestal growth and demonstrated a high Q.

physics.optics↗

Fabrication of whispering gallery mode cavity using crystal growth

We developed a new method for fabricating crystalline whispering gallery mode cavities based on laser-heated pedestal growth. We fabricated sapphire cavities and obtained a Q factor of 16000 with a cavity whose diameter was about 240 um. We showed numerically that the cross-sectional shape of the cavity is sensitive to the cavity Q, and we controlled it successfully by changing the growth condition in the molten zone, without significantly degrading the crystal structure.

physics.optics↗

Rigorous analysis of bistable memory in silica toroid microcavity

We model the nonlinear response of a silica toroid microcavity using coupled mode theory and a finite element method, and successfully obtain Kerr bistable operation that does not suffer from thermo-optic effect by optimizing the fiber-cavity coupling. Our analysis shows it is possible to demonstrate a Kerr bistable memory with a memory holding time of 500 ns at an extremely low energy consumption.

physics.optics↗

Polygonal silica toroidal microcavity for controlled optical coupling

We fabricated polygonal silica toroidal microcavities to achieve stable mechanical coupling with an evanescent coupler such as a tapered fiber. The polygonal cavity was fabricated by using a combination of isotropic etching, anisotropic etching and laser reflow. It offers both high and low coupling efficiencies with the cavity mode even when the coupler is in contact with the cavity, which offers the possibility of taking the device outside the laboratory. A numerical simulation showed that an octagonal silica toroidal microcavity had an optical quality factor of 8.8\times10^6.

physics.optics↗

Electro-optic adiabatic wavelength shifting and Q switching demonstrated using a p-i-n integrated photonic crystal nanocavity

We demonstrate adiabatic wavelength shifting by electro-optic modulation using a p-i-n integrated high-Q photonic crystal nanocavity. The wavelength of the trapped light is adiabatically shifted by modulating the resonance of the cavity faster than the photon lifetime. The cavity resonance is changed by injecting electrons through a p-i-n junction to reduce the refractive index. In addition we employ adiabatic wavelength shifting in a demonstration of dynamic Q tuning by electro-optic modulation.

physics.optics↗

All-silicon sub-Gb/s telecom detector with low dark current and high quantum efficiency on chip

We demonstrate channel selective 0.1-Gb/s photo-receiver operation at telecom wavelength using a silicon high-Q photonic crystal nanocavity with a laterally integrated p-i-n diode. Due to the good crystal property of silicon the measured dark current is only 15 pA. The linear and nonlinear characteristics are investigated in detail, in which we found that the photo-current is enhanced of more than 100,000 due to the ultrahigh-Q (>100,000). With the help of two-photon absorption, which is visible at a surprisingly low input power of 10 nW, the quantum efficiency of this device reaches about 10%.

physics.optics↗

Dynamic release of trapped light from an ultrahigh-Q nanocavity via adiabatic frequency tuning

Adiabatic frequency shifting is demonstrated by tuning an ultrahigh-Q photonic crystal nanocavity dynamically. By resolving the output temporally and spectrally, we showed that the frequency of the light in the cavity follows the cavity resonance shift and remains in a single mode throughout the process. This confirmed unambiguously that the frequency shift results from the adiabatic tuning. We have employed this process to achieve the dynamic release of a trapped light from an ultrahigh-Q cavity and thus generate a short pulse. This approach provides a simple way of tuning Q dynamically.

physics.optics↗