Characterization of the influence of strain on the optical properties of waveguides and microresonators in silicon-on-insulator technology

We are the first to present experimental results and understanding of the effects of an applied strain S in the effective index n
_e
in a SOI-PIC. We fabricated a set of long racetrack-shaped ring resonators (length 1040 μm, bend radius 25 μm, circumference l), oriented along the [110] crystalline direction, consisting of a waveguide with dimensions of 1000 x 300 nm. Having a long racetrack enables us to neglect the effects of the bends. We excite the fundamental TM mode using a multimode interference (MMI) coupler.