Ultrafast all-optical switching using signal flow graph for PANDA resonator

In this paper, the bifurcation behavior of light in the PANDA ring resonator is investigated using the signal flow graph (SFG) method, where the optical transfer function for the through and drop ports of the PANDA Vernier system are derived. The optical nonlinear phenomena, such as bistability, Ikeda instability, and dynamics of light in the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) PANDA ring resonator with four couplers are studied. The transmission curves for bistability and instability as a function of the resonant mode numbers and coupling coefficients for the coupler are derived by the SFG method and simulated. The proposed system has an advantage as no optical pumping component is required. Simulated results show that closed-loop bistable switching can be generated and achieved by varying mode resonant numbers in the SOI-PANDA Vernier resonator, where a smooth and closed-loop bistable switching with low relative output/input power can be obtained and realized. The minimum through-port switching time of 1.1 ps for resonant mode numbers of 5; 4; 4 and minimum drop port switching time of 1.96 ps for resonant mode numbers of 9; 7; 7 of the PANDA Vernier resonator are achieved, which makes the PANDA Vernier resonator an operative component for optical applications, such as optical signal processing and a fast switching key in photonics integrated circuits. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America