Systems and methods for resonance stabilization of microring resonator

A method of stabilizing resonance properties of an optical microring modulator, wherein the optical microring modulator is evanescently coupled to a bus waveguide the method comprising:

• applying a time-dependent reverse bias to a p-n junction formed in the optical microring modulator to modulate input optical power provided to the bus waveguide;
• detecting, across the p-n junction of the optical microring modulator, a photocurrent responsively generated due to optical absorption;
• and
• employing the photocurrent as a feedback parameter to thermally stabilize the resonance properties of the optical microring modulator;
• wherein the input optical power provided to the bus waveguide is sufficiently low such that the photocurrent is predominately generated via linear absorption of sub-band defects.

A stabilized resonant optical modulator system comprising:

• a bus waveguide;
• an optical microring modulator evanescently coupled to the bus waveguide, the optical microring modulator comprising a p-n junction;
• an optical power source configured to deliver input optical power to the bus waveguide;
• a heater configured to apply heat to the optical microring modulator;
• and
• control circuitry operably connected to the optical microring modulator and the heater, wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
• apply a time-dependent reverse bias to the p-n junction formed in the optical microring modulator to modulate the input optical power provided to the bus waveguide;
• detect, across the p-n junction of the optical microring modulator, a photocurrent responsively generated due to optical absorption;
• and
• control the heater according to a feedback signal generated based on the photocurrent to thermally stabilize resonance properties of the optical microring modulator;
• wherein the optical power source is configured to provide the input optical power to the bus waveguide such a linear contribution to the dependence of photocurrent on input optical power exceeds a quadratic contribution.