Power enhancement and phase regimes in embedded microring resonators in analogy with electromagnetically induced transparency

Coupled microresonators exhibit great potential for nonlinear applications. In the present work, we explore the nonlinear performance of an embedded ring resonator analogous to an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) medium, also known as coupled resonator induced transparency (CRIT). Interestingly, an EIT-like amplitude response can have a remarkably different power enhancement factor that varies by more than one order of magnitude, which is attributed to the different phase regimes of the embedded micro-ring resonators. In addition to the non-monotonic phase profile reported in atomic EIT systems, the phase responses featuring 2 pi and 4 pi monotonic transitions are identified and analyzed. We also present an interesting phenomenon, in which the power enhancement changes greatly, even with the same transfer function (both intensity and phase responses). This reveals that wisely choosing the operating regime is critical to optimize nonlinear performance of the embedded double resonator system, without adding to design or fabrication difficulty. (C)2013 Optical Society of America