Distributed Microresonator Systems

In the previous chapters, the linear and nonlinear transfer characteristics of a single (or a few) microresonator were examined in detail. In this chapter, the linear and nonlinear propagation characteristics of a distribution of microresonators are examined. Due to their inherent simplicity, we begin with a treatment of the linear pulse propagation characteristics of distributed all-pass resonators, move on to an examination of their nonlinear propagation characteristics, including the prediction of solitons, and make some comments on the limitations of these structures. Finally, we conclude with a generalized treatment of periodically distributed microresonators. These structures may be considered to be a new family of artificial media [215, 216] with analogies to photonic crystals [217–219]. Note: Both in this chapter and in the literature cited here, the terms SCISSOR (side-coupled integrated spaced sequence of resonators) and CROW (coupled-resonator optical waveguide) are used, which refer, respectively, to parallel and serial cascaded rings.