Low loss, high-speed single-mode half-disk resonator

This work proposes a new type of resonator: a single-mode half-disk resonator. Half of the resonator is solid, allowing large electrical or mechanical contacts, and a single-mode operation can be retained. A systematic design method is demonstrated and analyzed. For a 3 μm radius, the simulation predicts an internal Q-factor as high as 2.4×10⁵, and a loaded Q-factor of ~9000 is measured in experiments, comparable even with uncontacted microrings of bigger radii. The large contacts will improve the performance of a wide range of active devices. We present the contact resistance of a vertical PN junction modulator based on this structure, which can be reduced to nearly an order of magnitude, enabling a much faster modulation speed.