Enhanced Small-Signal Responsivity in Silicon Microring Photodetector Based on Two-Photon Absorption

We experimentally investigated methods of enhancing the small-signal responsivity of a silicon pin microring photodetector based on two-photon absorption for detecting small optical signals in the telecommunication wavelength range. Two approaches are demonstrated, the first exploiting the bistability effect in the nonlinear microring resonator while the second employing an optical bias at a different wavelength to increase the differential responsivity. We achieved a small-signal responsivity of 180 mA/W with the first approach and 141 mA/W with the second approach, both of which represent almost 10-fold enhancement over direct detection of small optical signals by the same silicon pin microring detector. Our techniques have potential applications in amplitude demodulation, heterodyne detection, and optical power monitoring in WDM communication channels.

我们通过实验研究了基于双光子吸收来提高硅pin微环光电探测器的小信号响应度的方法，以检测电信波长范围内的小光信号。展示了两种方法，第一种利用非线性微环谐振器中的双稳态效应，第二种采用不同波长的光偏置来提高差分响应度。通过第一种方法我们实现了180毫安/瓦的小信号响应度，通过第二种方法实现了141毫安/瓦的响应度，这两种方法相较于同一硅pin微环探测器对小光信号的直接检测，响应度几乎提高了10倍。我们的技术在波分复用通信信道中的幅度解调、外差检测和光功率监测方面具有潜在应用。