Chip-integrated all-optical 4-bit Gray code generation based on silicon microring resonators

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a 4-port passive encoder for 4-bit Gray code on pure silicon platform. The operation principle for this device is the thermo-optic (TO) effect in silicon microring resonator (MRR) whose transmission spectrum could be shifted by injecting strong light power. Therefore, the output powers of both the through-port and drop-port of the MRR could be controllable and switchable. Two threshold powers are defined to decide the port output code of bit 0 or 1. By combining two independent resonant wavelengths of two MRRs and adjusting their powers in a certain order, all-optical 4-bit Gray code generation has been successfully demonstrated. The proposed integrated device is competent in on-chip all-optical communication and optical interconnection systems with significant advantages, such as simple operation, compact size, economical fabrication process and great scalability. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America