Bus-waveguide-width Dependence of Evanescent Wave Coupling in a Microring Resonator

The evanescent wave coupling of a microring resonator is controlled by changing the gap distance between the bus waveguide and the microring waveguide. However, the interdependence of the bus waveguide's width and the coupling is not well understood. In this paper, we investigate the dependence of coupling strength on the bus waveguide's width. The strength of the evanescent wave coupling is analytically calculated using coupled-mode theory (CMT) and numerically calculated by three-dimensional finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The analytic and numerical simulation results show that the phase-matching condition in evanescent wave coupling does not provide maximum coupling strength, because both phase-matching and mode confinement influence the coupling. The analytic and simulation results for the evanescent coupling correspond to the experimental results. The optimized bus-waveguide width that provides maximum coupling strength results in intrinsic quality factors of up to 1.3 x 10(6). This study provides reliable guidance for the design of microring resonators, depending on various applications.