Coherent virtual absorption of light in microring resonators

Abstract

Light trapping and radiation process from linear reciprocal photonic resonators is one of the fundamental processes in optical science and engineering. Recently, the concept of coherent virtual absorption (CVA) of light was introduced and investigated for planar and cylindrical optical structures. The key feature of CVA is that by engineering the time dependence of the excitation waveform, one can temporarily store all the input energy in the optical structure without any leakage. Here we further explore this concept in integrated photonic setups made of microring resonators. By using coupled-mode theory, we derive an analytical expression for CVA in this platform. This in turn allows us to make the connection with the notion of coherent perfect absorption as well as extending our analysis to active resonators (having optical gain). We provide physical insight into this process by using a simple model made of cascaded beam splitters. Importantly, we confirm our results using a full-wave analysis of realistic material systems. Finally, we discuss the limitation on the CVA process due to waveform mismatch and nonlinear effects.