Coupling between waveguides and microresonators: the local approach

Abstract

Coupling between optical microresonators and waveguides is a critical characteristic of resonant photonic devices that has complex behavior that is not well understood. When the characteristic variation length of the microresonator modes is much larger than the waveguide width, local coupling parameters emerge that are independent of the resonator mode distributions and offer a simplified description of coupling behavior. We develop a robust numerical-fitting-based methodology for experimental determination of the local coupling parameters in all coupling regimes and demonstrate their characterization along a microfiber waveguide coupled to an elongated bottle microresonator.